CGBE Lecture: Political Epistemology and its Implications for Business Ethics

Fake news, trolls on the internet, highly partisan media, anti-science skepticism – it seems that democratic societies have run into trouble concerning the ways they deal with knowledge and information. In philosophy, epistemology, the sub-discipline that dealt with knowledge, has long focussed on the single individual.

For a few decades, however, epistemologists have started to explore the social conditions of knowledge, e.g. the role of testimony for acquiring knowledge. Miranda Fricker’s path-breaking work on epistemic justice has built the bridge to political philosophy. But there are also many other questions about the political preconditions of knowledge, and the implications of knowledge on politics.

In this talk, I discuss some of the current developments in political epistemology, focusing in particular on the way in which the internet has changed the social organization of knowledge. I present some arguments about the relation between knowledge and markets, challenging the wide-spread metaphor of the „marketplace of ideas.“ Finally, I draw some implications for business ethics: what duties do companies have with regard to the use of knowledge in society?

In particular, I argue that certain strategies that companies have used to promote their interests – especially the so-called „Tobacco strategy“ described by Eric Conway and Naomi Oreskes – are incompatible with a commitment to democracy

Die Teilnahme ist kostenlos, um Anmeldung wird jedoch gebeten.
Melden Sie sich hier jetzt zur CGBE Lecture am 4.10. an!