Event Detail

Thu Feb 11, 2021
4–6 PM
Philosophy Colloquium
Lidal Dror
Race, Crime and False Consciousness: Ideology and the Need for Emancipatory Theory

This paper develops a unified account of the epistemic defectiveness of ideologically held beliefs, focusing mainly on ideological beliefs related to race and crime. I argue for three main claims. First, ideological beliefs are epistemically defective either because they are unjustified, or because they are based on misleading evidence generated by oppressive circumstances. Second, until we broaden our epistemic concepts, we will be unable to fully understand ideology’s epistemic flaws. Third, the complicated nature of these flaws underscores the need for (practically-engaged) theorizing to overcome the distortions of an oppressive ideological system.