In this talk, Kristie Dotson explores the notion of epistemic frailty in our political lives. Epistemic frailty refers to a state of becoming bullishly set in our understandings of our worlds. It is a kind of brittleness with respect to our grasps on our worlds, which is not only the result of finitude; but is also the result of so-called “learning from experience.” Kristie tells several stories in order to demonstrate that we need new and better philosophical arts to grapple with the many ways our epistemic frailty can encourage us to testify against ourselves.
This event is produced by Cardiff University and the Royal Institute of Philosophy.
Speaker
Professor Kristie Dotson is a University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Philosophy and Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. She specializes in epistemology, metaphilosophy, and feminist philosophy (especially women of colour and Black feminisms). Her work primarily focuses on exploring how knowledge plays a role in maintaining and obscuring oppression. She has published numerous articles in leading philosophy journals on the epistemic aspects of power relations, the challenges of inclusivity and diversity in knowledge production, and the nature of philosophy as a discipline.
