Critical Political Epistemology

International conference organized by the Professorship for Epistemology & Theory of Science (University of Freiburg), in collaboration with the Critical Political Epistemology Network (CPEN).

Questions about the political and social dimensions of knowledge production have been ubiquitous throughout the history of philosophy. In recent years, they have regained prominence under the label of “political epistemology.” Most recently, much of the work explicitly framed as political epistemology has emerged from analytic philosophy, with the underlying assumption that contemporary political issues can be reduced to analytic questions regarding the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge. This literature often failedto engage appropriately with feminist epistemology and philosophy of science, critical theory, de-colonial/post-colonial theory, and Foucauldian approaches – traditions that have long explored political-epistemological questions from diverse and influential perspectives. This conference aims to recentre these approaches within contemporary debates in political epistemology. We explicitly invite work that explores political epistemology from an empirically-grounded inter- and transdisciplinary perspective, engaging with critical knowledge projects that question arbitrary hierarchies and work towards liberatory epistemological theories, epistemic practices and systems.

Confirmed keynote speakers include:

• Amandine Catala (University of Québec at Montréal)
• Nadja El Kassar (University of Lucerne)
• Deborah Mühlebach (Free University of Berlin)
• Just Serrano-Zamora (University of Barcelona)