Undergraduate Course: Knowledge, Ignorance and Power (PHIL10160)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting 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. |
| 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 standpoint epistemology, alternative standards for assessing claims to knowledge (such as those offered by Collins¿s black feminist epistemology), epistemic violence and oppression, 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 active ignorance, epistemic exploitation, the epistemic potential of the disability pride movement, and the #metoo movement.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Knowledge and Reality (PHIL08017) AND
Mind, Matter and Language (PHIL08014)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Students studying on MA Cognitive Science (Humanities) are permitted to take this course without having met the pre-requisites of Mind, Matter and Language and Knowledge and Reality. However, it is advisable that students discuss the suitability of the course with their PT and the course organiser before enrolling. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2019/20, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Midterm Essay: 40%
Final Essay: 60%
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Development of 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.
- Knowledge of the principal theories within analytic feminist epistemology, and accounts of phenomena such as epistemic injustice and systematic ignorance
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Reading List
Representative Readings
Barnes, Elizabeth. 2016. The Minority Body. Oxford.
Berenstain, Nora. 2016. 'Epistemic Exploitation.' Ergo 3: 569-90.
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.
Intemann, Kristen. 2010. ¿25 Years of Feminist Empiricism and Standpoint Theory: Where Are We Now?¿, Hypatia 25: 778-96.
Langton, Rae. 2005. ¿Feminism in Epistemology: Exclusion and Objectification¿, reprinted in Sexual Solipsism: Philosophical Essays on Pornography and Objectification. Oxford.
Manne, Kate. 2017. Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny. Oxford.
McKinnon, Rachel. 2016. ¿Epistemic Injustice¿. Philosophy Compass 11: 437-46.
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.
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.
Yap, Audrey. 2017. ¿Credibility Excess in the Social Imaginary in Cases of Sexual Assault¿. Feminist Philosophy Quarterly 3: 1-24.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Epistemology,Knowledge,Ignorance,Feminism |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Aidan McGlynn
Tel: (0131 6)51 6333
Email: amcglynn@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Ann-Marie Cowe
Tel: (0131 6)50 3961
Email: Annmarie.Cowe@ed.ac.uk |
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