Towards A Plausible Account of Epistemic Decolonisation

Why should we decolonise knowledge? One popular rationale is that colonialism has set up a single perspective as epistemically authoritative over many equally legitimate ones, and this is a form of epistemic injustice. Hence, we should take different epistemic perspectives as having equal epistemic...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPhilosophical papers (Grahamstown) Vol. 49; no. 2; pp. 253 - 278
Main Author Tobi, Abraham T.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Routledge 03.05.2020
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

Loading…
More Information
Summary:Why should we decolonise knowledge? One popular rationale is that colonialism has set up a single perspective as epistemically authoritative over many equally legitimate ones, and this is a form of epistemic injustice. Hence, we should take different epistemic perspectives as having equal epistemic authority. A problem with this rationale is that its relativist implications undermine the call for decolonisation, which is premised on the objectivity of the moral claim that 'epistemic colonisation is wrong'. In this paper, I aim to provide a rationale for epistemic decolonisation that avoids the shortfalls of this relativist rationale. I develop a distinctly epistemic rationale for epistemic decolonisation that positions the imperative to decolonise knowledge as an epistemic virtue.
ISSN:0556-8641
1996-8523
DOI:10.1080/05568641.2020.1779602