[Vdp] Talk by Quassim Cassam on May 21st - "How To Be A Political Epistemologist"

Dear all, the Vienna Forum for Analytic Philosophy warmly invites you to join a talk to be held by Quassim Cassam from the University of Warwick in two weeks. The title of the talk is "How To Be A Political Epistemologist". When? Wednesday, 21.05.2025, 01:00 - 2:30 pm Where? Lecture room 3A, NIG Universitätsstaße 7, 1010 Wien Abstract One of the fastest growing areas of philosophy today is political epistemology. In my lecture, I will discuss the extent to which its leading figures operate in an epistemic bubble or echo chamber. I will draw on Kusch's conception of a sociology of philosophical knowledge to investigate the background assumptions, concerns, ideologies, and master narratives of mainstream political epistemologists. I will propose a class-based analysis of political epistemology and explore the suggestion that this field's major preoccupations are essentially the preoccupations of what Musa Al-Gharbi calls 'symbolic capitalists'. I will conclude with a plea for a more diverse and self-critical approach to political epistemology. Quassim Cassam has kindly recommended the following texts as preparatory reading: * Kusch, M. (1995). Psychologism: The Sociology of Philosophical Knowledge. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203983898 [1] [read chapter 2] * al-Gharbi, M. (2024). We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite. Princeton University Press. [read introduction and chapter 1] The WFAP will discuss them as part of its discussion session at 06:30 pm on Friday, May 16th in lecture hall 2i, NIG. You can find the recommended reading attached to this e-mail. Anyone is welcome to join! Kind regards, Veronika Lassl Acting-Chair - Vienna Forum for Analytic Philosophy wfap.philo.at Links: ------ [1] https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203983898