Skip to content

epistemic diversity

📖 Definitions

"A community is epistemically diverse when it includes members who hold a range of different background assumptions, and theoretical and methodological perspectives" (Fehr 2011, 146).

"We call ‘epistemic diversity’ the ability or possibility of producing diverse and rich epistemic apparati to make sense of the world around us. Such epistemic apparati may be sophisticated philosophical conceptualisations or theories, or their corresponding folk theories that each one of us has, in virtue of their experience as epistemic agent and language user in given cultural contexts" (Gobbo and Russo 2020, 185).

"differences among situated knowers ... These include differences in cognitive capacity, experience, and expertise; in access to information and the heuristics that make it intelligible; and in motivating interests and orienting standpoint" (Wylie 2006, p. 1).

"the condition or fact of being different or varied, which affects the development and/or understanding of knowledge" (Leonelli 2022).

🔗 Relations

📚 References

  • Fehr, Carla. 2011. “What Is in It for Me? The Benefits of Diversity in Scientific Communities.” In Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science: Power in Knowledge, edited by Heidi Grasswick. Springer. DOI:10.1007/978-1-4020-6835-5
  • Gobbo, Federico, and Federica Russo. 2020. “Epistemic Diversity and the Question of Lingua Franca in Science and Philosophy.” Foundations of Science 25 (1): 185–207. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-019-09631-6.
  • Leonelli, Sabina. 2006. “Open Science and Epistemic Diversity: Friends or Foes?” Philosophy of Science 89 (5): 991–1001. https://doi.org/10.1017/psa.2022.45
  • Wylie, Alison. 2000. “Introduction: When Difference Makes a Difference.” Episteme 3 (1–2): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.3366/epi.2006.3.1-2.1
    - Gobbo, Federico, and Federica Russo. 2020. “Epistemic Diversity and the Question of Lingua Franca in Science and Philosophy.” Foundations of Science 25 (1): 185–207. https: doi.org/10.1007/s10699-019-09631-6.

    - Leonelli S. Open Science and Epistemic Diversity: Friends or Foes? Philosophy of Science. 2022;89(5):991-1001. [doi:10.1017/psa.2022.45](https://doi.org/10.1017/psa.2022.45)

    - Wylie, Alison. 2006. “Introduction: When Difference Makes a Difference.” Episteme 3 (1–2): 1–7. https: doi.org/10.3366/epi.2006.3.1-2.1.