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epistemic labor invalidation

📖 Definitions

"disregard and devalue certain sorts of epistemic activity, invalidating the epistemic labor necessary for completing epistemic tasks" (Pohlhaus 2017, 21).

💡 Examples

  • "As Uma Narayan points out, third-world scholars are often expected to be fountains of knowledge concerning the groups to which they are perceived as belonging in a way that disregards the actual cognitive labor necessary for knowing what is expected of them insofar as this knowledge is regarded as automatically present in virtue of group membership and not through actual cognitive effort" (Narayan 1997, 121–157).
  • hierarchies that regard some as less competent precisely because of what it is they know (Heldke 2006)
  • knowledge of non-Western philosophy is invalidated within the discipline of philosophy to such an extent that knowing something about it can reduce one’s credibility as a philosopher (Olberding 2016 as cited by Pohlhaus 2017, 21.

🔗 Relations

📚 References

  • Heldke, L. 2006."Farming made her stupid.” Hypatia. 21(3): 151–165.
  • Narayan, U. 1997. Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions, and Third World Feminism. Oxford University Press.
  • Pohlhaus, Gaile Jr. 2017. "Varieties of epistemic injustice" in The Routledge Handbook of Epistemic Injustice, edited by Kidd, I. J., Medina, J., Pohlhaus, G., & Jr Routledge. https: doi.org/10.4324/9781315212043
  • Olberding, A. 2016. Comments to “When Someone Suggests Expanding the Canon. . .” on Daily Nous May 13, 2016, http://dailynous.com/2016/05/13/when-someone-suggests-expanding-the-canon/ accessed July 4, 2016.