Postgraduate Course: Knowledge, Ignorance and Power MSc (PHIL11166)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will introduce and examine a range of topics at the intersection of epistemology and political/social/feminist philosophy, examining our actual epistemic practices in light of the relations of power and subordination that exist between differently placed groups in society, and looking at different proposals for how this should shape our theorizing about knowledge and ignorance.
Shared with undergraduate course PHIL10160 Knowledge, Ignorance and Power
For courses co-taught with undergraduate students and with no remaining undergraduate spaces left, a maximum of 8 MSc students can join the course. Priority will be given to MSc students who wish to take the course for credit on a first come first served basis after matriculation. |
| Course description |
This course will introduce and examine a range of topics at the intersection of epistemology and political/social/feminist philosophy, examining our actual epistemic practices in light of the relations of power and subordination that exist between differently placed groups in society, and looking at different proposals for how this should shape our theorizing about knowledge and ignorance. Topics covered will include the opposition between standpoint theory and empiricism within feminist epistemology, the relevance of feminist and anti-racist philosophy to traditional epistemological debates (such as the analysis of knowledge or the truth conditions of knowledge ascriptions), alternative standards for assessing claims to knowledge (such as those offered by Collins's black feminist epistemology), different varieties of epistemic injustice (including but not limited to the two varieties discussed in influential work by Miranda Fricker: testimonial injustice and hermeneutical injustice), the epistemology of ignorance, and epistemic objectification.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate core skills in philosophy, including interpreting and critically engaging with philosophical texts, evaluating arguments and theories, and developing one's own ideas in response to the issues discussed.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the principal theories within analytic feminist epistemology, and accounts of phenomena such as epistemic injustice and systematic ignorance.
- Demonstrate ability to write a short, clear paper on a topics raised in the class, manifesting the core skills listed above
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Reading List
Indicative Bibliography:
Collins, Patricia Hill. 1991. 'Learning From the Outsider Within', in Mary Margaret Fonow and Judith A. Cook (eds), Beyond Methodology: Feminist Scholarship As Lived Experience. Indiana.
Collins, Patricia Hill. 2000. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Routledge.
Dotson, Kristie. 2011. 'Tracking Epistemic Violence, Tracking Practices of Silencing', Hypatia 26: 236-57.
Dotson, Kristie. 2012. 'A Cautionary Tale: On Limiting Epistemic Oppression', Frontiers 33: 24-47.
Fricker, Miranda. 2007. Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing. Oxford.
Harding, Sandra. 1986. The Science Question in Feminism. Open University.
Haslanger, Sally. 'What Knowledge Is and What It Ought to Be', reprinted in Resisting Reality: Social Construction and Social Critique. Oxford.
Haslanger, Sally. 'On Being Objective and Being Objectified', reprinted in Resisting Reality: Social Construction and Social Critique. Oxford.
Intemann, Kristen. 2010. '25 Years of Feminist Empiricism and Standpoint Theory: Where Are We Now?', Hypatia 25: 778-96.
Jagger, Alison. 1983. Feminist Politics and Human Nature. Harvester.
Jagger, Alison. 1989. 'Love and Knowledge: Emotion in Feminist Epistemology', in A. Garry and M. Pearsall (eds), Women, Knowledge, and Reality: Explorations in Feminist Philosophy. Unwin Hyman.
Langton, Rae. 'Feminism in Epistemology: Exclusion and Objectification', reprinted in Sexual Solipsism: Philosophical Essays on Pornography and Objectification. Oxford.
McKinnon, Rachel. Forthcoming. 'Epistemic Injustice'. Philosophy Compass.
Medina, Jose. 2013. The Epistemology of Resistance: Gender and Racial Oppression, Epistemic Injustice, and Resistant Imaginations. Oxford.
Mills, Charles. 1997. The Racial Contract. Cornell.
Mills, Charles. 2007. 'White Ignorance', in Shannon Sullivan and Nancy Tuana (eds), Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance. SUNY.
Pohlhaus, Gaile. 2014. 'Discerning the Primary Epistemic Harm in Cases of Testimonial Injustice', Social Epistemology: 99-114.
Potter, Elizabeth. 2006. Feminism and Philosophy of Science: An Introduction. Routledge.
Stanley, Jason. 2015. How Propaganda Works. Princeton.
Tanesini, Alessandra. 1999. An Introduction to Feminist Epistemologies. Blackwell.
Wylie, Alison. 2003. 'Why Standpoint Matters', in Robert Figueroa and Sandra Harding (eds), Science and Other Cultures: Issues in Philosophies of Science and Technology. Routledge. |
Additional Information
| Course URL |
See Learn website |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Reading, understanding and critically engaging with complex texts; critical thinking; constructive oral engagement; essay writing. |
| Keywords | Epistemology,Knowledge,Ignorance,Feminism,Racism |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Aidan Mcglynn
Tel: (0131 6)51 6333
Email: amcglynn@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lynsey Buchanan
Tel: (0131 6)51 5002
Email: Lynsey.Buchanan@ed.ac.uk |
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