Epistemic Injustice

By Miranda Fricker,

Book cover of Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing

Book description

In this exploration of new territory between ethics and epistemology, Miranda Fricker argues that there is a distinctively epistemic type of injustice, in which someone is wronged specifically in their capacity as a knower. Justice is one of the oldest and most central themes in philosophy, but in order to…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

1 author picked Epistemic Injustice as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is one of the most imaginative, exciting, and accessible books of philosophy to appear in the past 25 years. Not all of it is about empathy, but one especially terrific chapter is. Fricker argues that we do people a “hermeneutical injustice” when our language and concepts leave no room for a ready way of understanding their experience (her example is how people responded to women who were sexually pressured in the workplace, before the phrase "sexual harrassment" was coined). And the cure for this problem, she says, is empathy:  opening ourselves to the person telling us about their…

From Samuel's list on the importance of empathy.

Want books like Epistemic Injustice?

Our community of 10,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Epistemic Injustice.

Browse books like Epistemic Injustice

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in ethics, epistemology, and empathy?

10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about ethics, epistemology, and empathy.

Ethics Explore 132 books about ethics
Epistemology Explore 44 books about epistemology
Empathy Explore 140 books about empathy