Epistemic Accountability

The ‘social turn’ in epistemology has seen a recent explosion of work from philosophers investigating epistemic analogues of what we might call our ‘accountability practices’: holding responsible, blaming, praising, excusing, exempting, forgiving, reconciling, and atoning, among other things, which have traditionally been thought of in primarily moral terms. This workshop aims to bring together philosophers working at the intersection of moral psychology, responsibility, and epistemology, to investigate such practices and their foundations.

The two-day workshop will take place in person in Sydney on August 14 and 15 at The University of Notre Dame, Australia’s Broadway campus. Registration is free.

Attendees now also have the option to attend online. To register for either in-person or online attendance, please email [email protected] 

  Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• When are people, group agents, or collectives responsible, blameworthy, praiseworthy, or excused for their epistemic conduct? What kinds of responses to epistemic conduct are warranted? How can this be done well or poorly?
• Is 'epistemic accountability' ultimately reducible to moral accountability?
• How are epistemic norms similar to, different from, or related to, moral norms? Does epistemic normativity have a social basis?
• Is the notion of ‘epistemic [x]’ confused? Should we be sceptical of such proposals?
• How should we theorise about epistemic agents, networks, groups, or epistemology more broadly when asking such questions?

  Speakers and Schedule (AEST)  

Wednesday 14 August  

10:00am     Coffee       Welcome – Adam Piovarchy & Tim Smartt (IES)

10:30am     Hannah Tierney (UC Davis): ‘Is elective epistemic forgiveness possible?’

11:30am     Mark Colyvan (Sydney): ‘Epistemic Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Game-Theoretic Perspective on Violating Epistemic Norms’

12:30pm     Lunch

1:30pm      Kendra Chilson (UC Riverside): ‘The Objective Attitude Towards Disabled People as Epistemic Silencing’ [online]

2:30pm      Mark Alfano (Macquarie): ‘Trust from Mistrust’        

3:30pm      Coffee

4:00pm      Roman Heil (Goethe University Frankfurt): ‘Epistemic Blame and Non-punitive Sanctions’ [online]

5:00pm      Close     

Thursday 15 August

10:00am     Coffee

10:30am     Cameron Boult (Brandon/Johannesburg): 'Epistemic Blame, Reparations, and Our Relations as Knowers’

11:30am     Beba Cibralic (Georgetown): ‘Epistemic Responsibility Gaps’ [online]

12:30pm     Lunch

1:30pm      Tim Smartt (IES): ‘More Scepticism about Epistemic Blame: A Reply to Boult’

2:30pm      Adam Piovarchy (IES): ‘Blame First, Ask Epistemology Later’

3:30pm      Coffee

4:00pm      Elise Woodard (KCL) & Michael Hannon (Nottingham): ‘The Construction of Epistemic Normativity’ [online]

5:00pm      Close  

5:30pm      Dinner at Baja Cantina, Glebe. All welcome.