Epistemic injustice and questions of credibility

This case study highlights the impact of feminist insights on philosophical epistemology and on society. It gives a brief overview of key feminist interventions, including the feminist empiricism of the 1970s and standpoint theory of the 1980s. The main focus, however, is on the impact of recent work on epistemic injustice. Coined by Miranda Fricker,‘epistemic injustice’refers to the influence of prejudices based on gender, race and other social identities on individuals’ ability to participate in knowledge practices such as giving testimony. The case study describes how current feminist philosophers are applying these insights to real world settings, such as legal institutions and health care systems, to understand and address prejudice.