Workshop: Ethics and Epistemology of Ignorance, 26-27th April, 2022

PERITIA / CEPL Event, University College Dublin.

Organizers: Melanie Altanian, Maria Baghramian

The recent social and applied turn in epistemology has led to the insight that epistemology should not only concern itself with the study of knowledge, but also the study of ignorance in its own right. At the same time, some of the most pressing contemporary social and political concerns – such as the climate crisis – are characterized by such high complexity that knowledge often seems unattainable, prompting the question of how we should deal with such uncertainty, or how we can and should be called to act despite ignorance. Further, we see a revival of humility as both moral and intellectual virtue that reminds us of the normative ambiguity of ignorance: the humility that lies in acknowledging our epistemic limitedness, our own ignorance. This workshop brings together different perspectives on the ethical and epistemological dimensions and implications of ignorance. What normative conceptions of ignorance are being employed in the philosophical literature? What does it mean to understand ignorance as a substantive epistemic practice? Is ignorance always constituted by an intellectual vice or can there be virtuous ignorance? What is the relationship between ignorance and epistemic injustice? Can there be a right to ignorance? These are just some of the questions we seek to explore.

Speakers:

Invited speaker: Paul Giladi (Manchester Metropolitan University), Ignorance and the Management of the Epistemic Economy

Kelly Agra (UCD), ‘Philosophy as a site of Epistemic Paralysis’: Philippine Colonial Miseducation, Gender Misrecognition, and Epistemology of Ignorance

Melanie Altanian (UCD / University of Berne), Expert Ignorance and the Social Division of Cognitive Arrogance

Katherine O’Donnell (UCD), Feminist Disagreements on Hermeneutical Injustice: Knowledge Acquisition vs. Knowledge Production

Gerry Dunne (Marino Institute of Education / Trinity College Dublin), Deliberate Ignorance and Epistemic Exploitation

Samuel Ferns (UCD), Critical Theory, Ignorance, and the Poetics of Epistemic Emancipation

Carline Klijnman (UCD / University of Genoa), Deliberative Epistemic Democracy and Public Credibility Dysfunction

Danielle Petherbridge (UCD), Contributory Injustice, Ignorance and the Exclusion of Indigenous Knowledges

Clémence Saintemarie (UCD), The Meaning and Value of Metaphors of (In)Visibility for a Critical Theory of Social Ignorance

Registration is required and the number of additional participants is limited. The detailed program will be sent to registered participants, along with a Zoom link for those who prefer to participate online.

The event will take place in the Agnes Cuming Seminar Room, UCD School of Philosophy, 5th Floor, Newman Building, Belfield, Dublin 4.

Any queries please email Fiona Lavin at Ethics.cpd@ucd.ie