#958 Robin McKenna: Non-Ideal Epistemology

Jun 24, 2024

Dr. Robin McKenna discusses non-ideal epistemology, contrasting it with ideal theory. Topics include ethical implications, feminist epistemology, and challenges in identifying expertise. The episode explores forming true beliefs in a world of misinformation, individualized epistemic responsibilities, engaging with challenges to beliefs, and the impact of online presence.

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INSIGHT

Ethical and Political Dimensions

Non-ideal epistemology is inherently ethical and political, blurring the lines between epistemological and ethical/political questions.
Analyzing science denial, like climate change denial, requires both epistemological and ethical/political considerations.

INSIGHT

Feminist Epistemology

Feminist epistemology, a form of non-ideal epistemology, considers the social situatedness of inquirers.
It examines how factors like gender influence inquiry, particularly in fields like science, without positing essentialist male/female ways of knowing.

INSIGHT

Identifying Expertise

Identifying expertise is difficult because experts disagree, and laypeople have pre-existing biases.
These biases make it hard to evaluate disagreements objectively, especially on politically charged topics like mask efficacy.

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Dr. Robert McKenna is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Liverpool. Most of his work is in epistemology, but he is also interested in philosophy of language, philosophy of science and ethics. Within epistemology, he is increasingly interested in applied epistemology, feminist epistemology and social epistemology more broadly. Current topics of interest include the epistemology of persuasion, the epistemology of climate change denial (and of "dysfunctional epistemologies"), epistemic injustice and social constructivism. He is the author of Non-Ideal Epistemology.

In this episode, we focus on Non-Ideal Epistemology. We first discuss ideal epistemology, and then get into what non-ideal epistemology is. We talk about its ethical and political aspects, the example of feminist epistemology, and epistemic agents as deeply socially situated. We address the problem of the identification of expertise, and intellectual autonomy. We discuss how we can construct a better epistemic environment. We talk about how we can deal with public ignorance about important political and scientific issues. We discuss our responsibilities as inquirers, and how they depend on our social situation. Finally, we talk about motivated reasoning and skepticism.

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