Conference: New Waves in the Philosophy of Epistemic Authority and Expert Testimony (5.-6.10.2023)

Venue map

Click here for a detailed map of the locations of the conference.

Conference program

Click here to download the conference program.

Description

Over the past decade, epistemology has seen a surge of interest in the topics of epistemic and expert authority. In particular, the debate has focused on questions such as (i) How should the concepts of epistemic or expert authority be defined, for example, according to objective, epistemic, or functionalist approaches? (ii) How can experts and epistemic authorities be reliably identified, especially by laypeople? (iii) What is the proper epistemic stance that laypeople should take towards epistemic authorities,  for example,  should  they  preempt their own  reasons or  not?  (iv) What  epistemic  goods (knowledge, understanding, etc.) can be acquired from epistemic authorities, and what are the mech-
anisms of transmission? 

In addition to these fundamental questions, a number of other issues have recently come to the fore. For instance, some authors have begun to address the relationship between epistemic authority and testimonial authority, or the question of whether non-personal epistemic authorities can also exist, for example in the form of social groups, institutions, or technical artefacts such as AI systems. Furthermore, a mutually fruitful exchange of the debate on epistemic authority with other current philosophical debates is emerging. In particular, one could think of attempts to investigate non-ideal epistemic phenomena, as they have become visible in the context of the Covid 19-pandemic and other societal challenges. This concerns issues such as: 

• predatory or otherwise exploitative experts and epistemic authorities; 
• epistemic trespassing and other transgressions by experts, for example in the context of political advice (the so-called problem of expertocracy); 
• the possibility of false, pseudo-, or fake authorities; 
• distrust towards experts and epistemic authorities; 
• epistemic authority and epistemic injustice; 
• epistemic vice on the part of epistemic authorities on the one hand and laypeople on the other; 
• reinforcing and mitigating effects of epistemic authorities on phenomena such as polarisation, echo chambers, and filter bubbles. 

The aim of this workshop is threefold: to stimulate exchange on established and recent questions, to raise questions that have not yet been considered, and generally, to map out the field of future research topics.

Program (updated October 4, 2023)

Thursday, October 5, 2023
(SLUB, Zellescher Weg 17, room Makerspace M2)

Friday, October 6, 2023
(SLUB, Zellescher Weg 17, room Makerspace M2)

[Unfortunately, the talks by Heidi Grasswick and Christian Quast had to be canceled.]

Registration

rico.hauswald@tu-dresden.de or pedro.schmechtig@tu-dresden.de

Travel

Here you can find useful information on how to reach Dresden by train, plane, or car: https://www.dresden-convention.com/en/dresden/destination-dresden/getting-to-dresden

The main train station of Dresden is about 20 minutes by foot, or roughly 15 minutes by public transport to the TU Dresden, where the conference will take place.