PHIL 222 Knowledge and Power

This course will explore the relation between knowledge and power, focusing on epistemic dimensions of racial and gender oppression. The course will address the following questions: (1) How does propaganda operate, and what sort of threat does it pose to equality in the United States? (2) How do ideologies entrench privilege and injustice, and how can we counteract false beliefs that persist in the face of strong opposing evidence? (3) Is there a distinctively epistemic form of injustice, and, if so, what does this form of injustice look like? The authors that will be discussed may include Michel Foucault, Miranda Fricker, Sally Haslanger, José Medina, Tommie Shelby, and Jason Stanley.