Applied Epistemology

Abstract Applied epistemology brings the tools of contemporary epistemology to bear on particular issues of social concern. While the field of social epistemology has flourished in recent years, there has been far less work done on how theories of knowledge, justification, and evidence may be applied to concrete questions, especially those of ethical and political significance. The present volume fills this gap in the current literature by bringing together essays from leading philosophers in a broad range of areas in applied epistemology. The potential topics in applied epistemology are many and diverse, and this volume focuses on seven central issues, some of which are general, while others are far more specific: epistemological perspectives; epistemic and doxastic wrongs; epistemology and injustice; epistemology, race, and the academy; epistemology and feminist perspectives; epistemology and sexual consent; and epistemology and the internet. Some of the chapters in this volume contribute to, and further develop, areas in social epistemology that are already active, and others open up entirely new avenues of research. All of the contributions aim to make clear the relevance, and importance, of epistemology to some of the most pressing social and political questions facing us as agents in the world.