Epistemic Justice as a Panacea for Political Freedom

Abstract

The paper examines the links between epistemic justice and political freedom. It is also an attempt to reveal how epistemic injustice leads to oppression, disabling conditions for an individual as manifested in testimonial practice. However, political freedom here includes civil liberties and positive exercise of human rights. The paper argues that social inequalities are the root cause of epistemic injustice. Epistemic justice on the other hand concerns the just exercise and attribution of epistemic power. Epistemic power is enabled by authority, a prerequisites for being regarded as epistemically trustworthy. The paper adopted descriptive and content analysis method to examine the role of epistemic justice in ensuring political freedom. It x-rays how epistemic power allows us to explain the moral and epistemic nature of epistemic injustice. The paper concludes that epistemic justice is important for the welfare of society as a whole, having epistemic justice and responsibility leads to satisfaction and pleasure of life, as well as the respect and loyalty to political leaders. People who suffer epistemic injustice eventually rebel and make the abuser pay dearly.

Keywords: Epistemology, Epistemic Justice, Political freedom, Social inequalities.