Taking Intellectual Advantage of Others

Cameron Boult (Brandon University, University of Johannesburg)

The Collective Ethics Seminar: Online Presentation – 8 June 2026 – 15.15 – 16.45 CEST / 09.15 – 10.45 EST

Cameron Boult - Taking Intellectual Advantage of Others

On Monday 8 June 2026, Cameron Boult (Brandon University) will give a presentation in the Collective Ethics Seminar entitled ‘Taking Intellectual Advantage of Others’.

Abstract: I develop and defend the concept epistemic assholes. An epistemic asshole is someone who exhibits a distinctive form of epistemic badness characterized not by gross irrationality or hostility to truth, but by a stable, entitled disregard for one’s epistemic relations with others. Drawing on Aaron James’s (2012) account of moral assholes, I examine how people can systematically exploit epistemic cooperation by allowing themselves special advantages—such as “freedom from inquiry”, “doxastic comfort”, and “freedom to criticize”—while remaining insulated from criticism by an entrenched sense of entitlement. The resulting view, the Relational Approach to Epistemic Assholes (REA), explains why epistemic assholes are not epistemically the worst, yet are nonetheless deeply galling. After motivating the need for this concept, I show how REA captures both “impure” cases (involving both epistemic and moral assholery) and “pure” epistemic assholes, whose objectionable conduct is driven by epistemic aims themselves. I further explore connections between epistemic assholes and epistemic vice, and the causal role that epistemic assholery can play in active ignorance and epistemic exploitation. Through this latter connection, I argue that epistemic assholes play an insidious causal role in sustaining objectionable social power dynamics. The concept of epistemic assholes provides a valuable lens for understanding and calling out important but often-hidden hazards in our social epistemic environment. 

The online seminar is open for all to attend. The session starts at 15.15 CEST / 09.15 EST. You can join the session via the following link: https://univienna.zoom.us/j/62736288881?pwd=SndEdTNoNlZtSzJqcmpabm5NaWIyUT09

For more information about the seminar, please see https://social.univie.ac.at/events/collective-ethics-seminar/. We hope to see you at the seminar!

Kind regards,

Gunnar Björnsson (Stockholm University), Kenneth Silver (Trinity College Dublin), and Niels de Haan (University of Vienna)