Typecasts, Tokens, and Spokespersons: A Case for Credibility Excess as Testimonial Injustice

Hypatia 31 (3):485-501 (2016)
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Abstract

Miranda Fricker maintains that testimonial injustice is a matter of credibility deficit, not excess. In this article, I argue that this restricted characterization of testimonial injustice is too narrow. I introduce a type of identity-prejudicial credibility excess that harms its targets qua knowers and transmitters of knowledge. I show how positive stereotyping and prejudicially inflated credibility assessments contribute to the continued epistemic oppression of marginalized knowers. In particular, I examine harms such as typecasting, compulsory representation, and epistemic exploitation and consider what hearers are obligated to do in response to these injustices. I argue that because epistemic harms to marginalized knowers also arise from prejudicially inflated assessments of their credibility, the virtue of testimonial justice must be revised to remedy them.

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Emmalon Davis
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Citations of this work

Epistemic Exploitation.Nora Berenstain - 2016 - Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy 3:569-590.
Varieties of Epistemic Injustice.Gaile Pohlhaus - 2017 - In Ian James Kidd & José Medina (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Epistemic Injustice. New York: Routledge.
Epistemic Agency Under Oppression.Gaile Pohlhaus - 2020 - Philosophical Papers 49 (2):233-251.

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References found in this work

A Cautionary Tale: On Limiting Epistemic Oppression.Kristie Dotson - 2012 - Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 33 (1):24-47.
Objectification.Martha C. Nussbaum - 1995 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 24 (4):249-291.
The Science Question in Feminism.Sandra Harding - 1988 - Synthese 76 (3):441-446.

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