Accurate Stereotypes and Testimonial Injustice

In How Stereotypes Deceive Us, Katherine Puddifoot provides a convincing non-normative account of what stereotypes are, and of the conditions under which we appropriately rely on them in achieving our epistemic and ethical goals. In this paper, I focus on Puddifoot’s discussion of what she takes to...

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Main Author: Leonie Smith
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Rijeka. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences 2025-01-01
Series:European Journal of Analytic Philosophy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/474844
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author Leonie Smith
author_facet Leonie Smith
author_sort Leonie Smith
collection DOAJ
description In How Stereotypes Deceive Us, Katherine Puddifoot provides a convincing non-normative account of what stereotypes are, and of the conditions under which we appropriately rely on them in achieving our epistemic and ethical goals. In this paper, I focus on Puddifoot’s discussion of what she takes to be the non-prejudicial use of accurate stereotypes and their role in causing or perpetuating harm. Such use can cause harm but does not, on the face of it, appear to be wrongful in the way that ordinary cases of prejudicially motivated use of stereotypes are. This raises a challenge for identifying when our use of such stereotypes might be unjust or wrongful (and why). In response, I first suggest that prejudice might be located within the context in which one uses a stereotype, rather than within the content of the stereotype itself. In this way, we can indeed distinguish prejudicial (and therefore wrongful) use of accurate stereotypes from non-prejudicial (innocent) use of accurate stereotypes. And second, I suggest that we also ought to question whether the stereotypes being invoked in all cases really are accurate, given the context and scope of application.
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spelling doaj-art-0cab8eb9a89d41c6afc8ec479a7e962e2025-08-20T02:04:14ZengUniversity of Rijeka. Faculty of Humanities and Social SciencesEuropean Journal of Analytic Philosophy1845-84751849-05142025-01-012112538Accurate Stereotypes and Testimonial InjusticeLeonie Smith0Lancaster University, United KingdomIn How Stereotypes Deceive Us, Katherine Puddifoot provides a convincing non-normative account of what stereotypes are, and of the conditions under which we appropriately rely on them in achieving our epistemic and ethical goals. In this paper, I focus on Puddifoot’s discussion of what she takes to be the non-prejudicial use of accurate stereotypes and their role in causing or perpetuating harm. Such use can cause harm but does not, on the face of it, appear to be wrongful in the way that ordinary cases of prejudicially motivated use of stereotypes are. This raises a challenge for identifying when our use of such stereotypes might be unjust or wrongful (and why). In response, I first suggest that prejudice might be located within the context in which one uses a stereotype, rather than within the content of the stereotype itself. In this way, we can indeed distinguish prejudicial (and therefore wrongful) use of accurate stereotypes from non-prejudicial (innocent) use of accurate stereotypes. And second, I suggest that we also ought to question whether the stereotypes being invoked in all cases really are accurate, given the context and scope of application.https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/474844testimonial injusticestereotypescontextepistemic injustice
spellingShingle Leonie Smith
Accurate Stereotypes and Testimonial Injustice
European Journal of Analytic Philosophy
testimonial injustice
stereotypes
context
epistemic injustice
title Accurate Stereotypes and Testimonial Injustice
title_full Accurate Stereotypes and Testimonial Injustice
title_fullStr Accurate Stereotypes and Testimonial Injustice
title_full_unstemmed Accurate Stereotypes and Testimonial Injustice
title_short Accurate Stereotypes and Testimonial Injustice
title_sort accurate stereotypes and testimonial injustice
topic testimonial injustice
stereotypes
context
epistemic injustice
url https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/474844
work_keys_str_mv AT leoniesmith accuratestereotypesandtestimonialinjustice