One way to make sense of recent political events is to reflect on the role of epistemic insouciance in political debate. Epistemic insouciance is a casual lack of concern or carelessness about the facts, an indifference to whether one’s assertions have any basis in reality. It implies an excessively nonchalant attitude towards the challenge of finding answers to complex questions, partly as a result of a tendency to view such questions as less complex than they really are. The primary product of epistemic insouciance is bullshit in Harry Frankfurt’s sense. Epistemic insouciance is an epistemic posture rather than a stance. It is an epistemic vice, both in the sense that it gets in the way of knowledge and is blameworthy or otherwise reprehensible. Epistemic insouciance is different from epistemic malevolence. The latter is a stance rather than a posture. Epistemic insouciance is illustrated by the conduct of some parties to the Brexit debate in the UK. A compelling example of epistemic malevolence is the ‘tobacco strategy’.
Is this a term (insouciance) we cab all use in thinking of our political and social conditions? -- --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
