Epistemic Exploitation

Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy 3:569-590 (2016)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Epistemic exploitation occurs when privileged persons compel marginalized persons to educate them about the nature of their oppression. I argue that epistemic exploitation is marked by unrecognized, uncompensated, emotionally taxing, coerced epistemic labor. The coercive and exploitative aspects of the phenomenon are exemplified by the unpaid nature of the educational labor and its associated opportunity costs, the double bind that marginalized persons must navigate when faced with the demand to educate, and the need for additional labor created by the default skepticism of the privileged. I explore the connections between epistemic exploitation and the two varieties of epistemic injustice that Fricker (2007) identifies, testimonial and hermeneutical injustice. I situate epistemic exploitation within Dotson’s (2012; 2014) framework of epistemic oppression, and I address the role that epistemic exploitation plays in maintaining active ignorance and upholding dominant epistemic frameworks.

Similar books and articles

Epistemic Oppression and Epistemic Privilege.Miranda Fricker - 1999 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 29 (sup1):191-210.
A Critique of Hermeneutical Injustice.Laura Beeby - 2011 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 111 (3pt3):479-486.
Two Concepts of Epistemic Injustice.David Coady - 2010 - Episteme 7 (2):101-113.
Epistemic Injustice.Rachel McKinnon - 2016 - Philosophy Compass 11 (8):437-446.
Epistemic Injustice and Religion.Ian James Kidd - 2017 - In Ian James Kidd, José Medina & Gaile Pohlhaus (eds.), The Routledge Handbook to Epistemic Injustice. New York: Routledge. pp. 386-396.

Analytics

Added to PP
2017-01-26

Downloads
7,316 (#399)

6 months
536 (#872)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Nora Berenstain
University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Citations of this work

Cultural Gaslighting.Elena Ruíz - 2020 - Hypatia 35 (4):687-713.
Varieties of Epistemic Injustice.Gaile Pohlhaus - 2017 - In Ian James Kidd, Gaile Pohlhaus & José Médina Médina (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Epistemic Injustice.
Exploitative Epistemic Trust.Katherine Dormandy - 2020 - In Trust in Epistemology. New York City, New York, Vereinigte Staaten: pp. 241-264.

View all 54 citations / Add more citations