Knowing is for the Birds: Epistemic Injustice and Nonhuman Knowers
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Authors
Lopez, Andrew
Date
2024-05-02
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
Epistemic injustice , Nonhuman animals , Ethics , Epistemology
Alternative Title
Abstract
The aim of this dissertation is to consider nonhuman animals at the intersection of moral philosophy and theory of knowledge. Specifically, I explore the question of whether nonhuman animals can experience epistemic injustice and be wronged as knowers. To approach this question, I review the theoretical contributions of scholars in epistemic injustice, how these contributions might relate to nonhuman animals, and how we need to conceptualize nonhuman animals and their capacities to understand them as knowers who can be wronged as knowers. To do so, I draw from feminist epistemology and literature in epistemic injustice that calls attention to the importance of epistemic resources and their distribution, as well as to nonpropositional forms of knowledge. I then transition to developing an alternative and more expansive view of nonhuman animals as knowers—one that draws from the history of biology and current work in philosophy of biology (including Developmental Systems Theory) and cognitive science (including 4E cognition) to provide a picture of nonhuman animals as embedded in, and constituted by, their epistemic environments or 'worlds.' Finally, I turn to considering how we can conceive of expression and testimony from nonhuman animals, and to showing why wrongfully ignoring or rejecting their testimony is a legitimate concern for animal ethics and epistemic injustice. Starting from the alternative expansive view of nonhuman animals I have developed, I emphasize their open-ended nature and capacities for co-production of knowledge, elaborate an account of how to conceptualize this co-production and expression of knowledge without language or propositional thought, and gesture toward the attitude or orientation needed to see this potential co-production.
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International