PPE Spring Author Series: Miranda Fricker: Testimonial Injustice

Via Zoom. Click here to register for this event on the PPE website.

When Anita Hill testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991 that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her while he was her supervisor, many doubted her credibility. Nearly three decades later, Christine Blasey Ford’s veracity was questioned when she alleged that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her while they were both in high school. Is it unjust that Hill and Ford were not more readily believed? More generally, is it unjust when the testimony of some people in society is given more credence than the testimony of others? In this session of the PPE Author Series, we will discuss these questions with Professor Miranda Fricker, a distinguished scholar of ethics, social epistemology, and feminist philosophy.

Our discussion will focus on several chapters of Fricker’s book Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing. The relevant book chapters will be distributed to participants via email.