ERIC Number: EJ1024579
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1744-9642
EISSN: N/A
Of Ants and Men: Epistemic Injustice, Commitment to Truth, and the Possibility of Outsider Critique in Education
Horsthemke, Kai
Ethics and Education, v9 n1 p127-140 2014
Does the imperative that we ought to try to understand one another make any sense? Presumably not--"if" it is "correct" that there are indeed different truths, and that the quest for objectivity is appropriate only in certain cultural contexts. After carefully mapping out the epistemological and ethical terrain, with special reference to the notions of "outsider understanding" (and resistance to this idea), "other ways of knowing" and epistemic injustice, this article presents a case for outsider critique. Education for (rational) belief and commitment (to truth and truthfulness) necessarily includes education for understanding. Given our shared humanity, with many overlapping facets that make up our identities, and considering that the standard arguments against outsider "understanding" fail to stand up to critical scrutiny, this arguably also paves the way for the possibility of critical "interrogation" "from the outside". Such interrogation (driven as it may be by a commitment and, indeed, a passion for truth) should display virtues such as sensitivity, patience, perseverance, imagination, empathy and open-mindedness--and should be guided by an honest attempt at understanding.
Descriptors: Epistemology, Ethics, Criticism, Educational Attitudes, Cultural Context, Cultural Awareness, Indigenous Knowledge, Western Civilization, Educational Philosophy, Indigenous Populations, Spiritual Development, Justice, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Africa
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A