IDEA research seminar: Epistemically just interactions are good medicine

Part of the IDEA research seminar series. This is a hybrid event and you can attend in-person or online.

Speaker: Prof. Lisa Bortolloti (Birmingham)

In the cases of agential epistemic injustice discussed in the literature (i.e., contributory injustice, harmful inclusion, and extracted testimony), the speaker’s contribution to an interaction is solicited, but distorted by the interpreter’s assumptions. As a result of the distorted contribution, the interaction fails to meet its key objectives. Building on recent qualitative work on mental healthcare interactions, I argue that, when the contribution of the person seeking support is distorted, due to their epistemic agency being called into question, it is also more difficult for the interaction to meet its clinical objectives. Such objectives include understanding the nature of the problem for which the person seeks support, identifying adequate means of support for that person, and enabling the person to address the problem via those means. In the paper, I consider two arguments for the view that there are clinical reasons to pursue agential epistemic justice in the mental health context: the knowledge exchange argument and the motivation argument.

Join on Zoom or in-person