The Decision to Know

Abstract

Without careful consideration of the situatedness of the subject and object of knowledge acquisition, epistemic harms may result from the unrelenting, uncritical pursuit of knowledge. Through an examination of three cases of information seeking of the biomedical/scientific type including pregnancy, the role of nurses in caring for patients and transmitting knowledge, and "knowing what it's like" to be disabled, it is argued that a variety of epistemic harms may result. The epistemic harms considered include testimonial and hermeneutic injustice, and epistemic imperialism and unsustainability.