Uppsala Epistemology Workshop: Inquiry and Epistemic Harms

Much recent work in epistemology and metanormativity is concerned with questions about how, if at all, non-epistemic considerations bear on what we should believe and how we should conduct inquiry. For instance, are there moral and/or prudential constraints on inquiry and deliberation? Can beliefs be harmful and/or wrong, and if so, do we thereby have reason not to form such beliefs? The workshop aims to provide a constructive forum to make progress on these and related questions, with a focus on the topics of inquiry and epistemic harms (both very broadly construed).

PROGRAM:

DAY 1– Inquiry

9:00-10:15       Speaker: Rima Basu - “Philosophy: What It Is And What It Could Be”

Commentator: Sarah Wright

10:30-11:45    Speaker: Elís Miller Larsen – “Inquiry and the Limits of Ignorance”

Commentator: Dan Friedman

Lunch: 11:45-13:30

13:30-14:45    Speaker: Sarah Wright - “The Epistemic Risks of ‘Doing your Own Research’”

Commentator: Annette Martín

15:00-16:15    Speaker: Yasha Sapir - “Deliberative Inquiry”

Commentators: Tez Clark and Caroline von Klemperer

16:30-17:45    Speaker: Annette Martín - “Obliviousness, Inquiry, and Epistemic Responsibility”

Commentator: Elís Miller Larsen

DAY 2– Encroachment

9:00-10:15       Speaker: Dan Friedman - “Collaborative Inquiry, Social Encroachment, and Zetetic Harms”

Commentator: Jaakko Hirvelä

10:30-11:45    Speaker: Tez Clark and Caroline von Klemperer - “Moral Encroachment and Perspectival Structures”

Commentator: Rima Basu

Lunch: 11:45-13:30

13:30-14:45    Speaker: Jaakko Hirvelä - “The Structure of Moral Encroachment”

Commentator: Yasha Sapir

15:00-16:15    Double Presentation: Z Quanbeck and Alex Worsnip - “A Permissivist Alternative to Encroachment”, followed by Sarah Paul - “Constrained Pragmatism”

16:30-17:45    Comments by Daniel Fogal, followed by brief responses from Sarah Paul, Z Quanbeck, and Alex Worsnip and Q&A

The workshop is open to all—there is no participation fee and no registration is required. The event is in person only.

This workshop is a part of the research project “The Wisdom of the Crowd: The Evidential Role of Convergence and Consensus” which is generously funded by the Swedish Research Council. It is organized in co-operation with the Uppsala Forum on Democracy, Peace and Justice.

For questions, please contact the organizers, Olle Risberg ([email protected]) and Daniel Fogal ([email protected]).