Alessandra Tanesini, "The Mismeasure of the Self: A Study in Vice Epistemology" (Oxford UP, 2021)
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What is vice epistemology and why does it matter for everyday inquiry?
Welcome to the New Books Network.
Hello, thanks for joining us for this episode of New Books in Philosophy, which is part of the New Books Network. I'm Robert Talese, I'm professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co-host the program with Carrie Figner, Malcolm Keating, and Sarah Tyson. My guest today is Alessandra Tanasini. Alessandra is professor of philosophy at Cardiff University. She specializes in epistemology, ethics, and the philosophy of language, and the intersections of these fields. Her new book has just been published with Oxford University Press. It's titled The Mismeasure of the Self, a Study in Vice Epistemology. Now, a lot of epistemology focuses on the analysis of central epistemological concepts, things like knowledge and justification, evidence, truth and belief.
But having knowledge is also a matter of acquiring knowledge. And this means that epistemology should also address questions about our conduct in acquiring knowledge. How should we go about finding things out? What does it mean to be a good inquirer? Questions like that. This suggests that people can behave badly or improperly as epistemic agents. So it falls also to epistemologists to examine bad epistemic conduct as well. Now, in her new book, The Mismeasure of the Self, Alessandra begins from the observation that good epistemic conduct involves proper appraisal of one's epistemic condition, including one's own cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Her book is focused on the ways in which epistemic self assessment can go wrong.
Along the way, she provides a general theory of epistemic virtue and vice. Now, as usual, there's a lot to talk about here, but before we get into all the details, why don't we begin, as we usually do, with our guest, the author. Hi Alessandra. Hi, Bob. How are you doing today? Oh, I'm doing great. How are you? Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. Um, so we usually begin these interviews uh with uh uh you know a little bit about the author. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Yeah, sure. Uh I teach philosophy at Cardiff University. I I am Italian and s uh the Italian accent, but been here at Cardiff for a long, long time. And my my interest really is in epistemology, as you said, but I would like also to add in feminist philosophy and in fact Part of the genesis of this book, as I hope we will discuss, is my interest in issues of oppression and discrimination. And so I think a part of this book as an investigation into the psychology of oppression, as I hope uh we will have time to investigate. Um apart from philosophy, uh I'm really i interested in sailing, uh and so I always think that my best thoughts are if I have any best thoughts, they always come to me. Uh whilst I'm away from everything and I am over the water, hearing the wind in the sails.
So so that's what I like to do apart from doing
philosophy. Can I ask you about the sailing? So um uh did you grow up uh uh uh uh d doing sailing or is that something that uh a a a an activity you got interested in later in life?
Uh I grew up dreaming of sailing, but none of my family were into it, so I I didn't. And then uh when I moved to the UK where Um, I suppose sailing is something that uh is very popular. Well Lis is very popular along the coastlines. Then I I and I got friends who sail, so I I really got into it that way. Um and I I r it's something I I really like doing and uh I mean uh this is sort of incidental, but you know, there are a lot of philosophers who do say oh Uh and then all philosophers who say altogether. Um
I you know, that's that's news to me. I I Yeah.
So Michael Lynch and I go
sailing together, for instance. Oh, I knew about Michael, yeah, but I I I I hadn't realized uh uh that that that there were more of you. Uh
and Michael Lynch said, but I only have it on from him, that Fodor and Dan Dennett used to sail together. Oh, whether this is true or not, I don't know. Uh but also Zalobardo, who you might know, works on Wittgenstein also is a keen sailor. So there is a little fraternity of
us. Well, that's fabulous.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is vice epistemology and why does it matter for everyday inquiry?
0:01–8:28
2
How does Alessandra Tanesini’s personal background shape her view of epistemic vice?
8:28–17:33
3
What is the general theory of epistemic virtues and vices proposed in the book?
17:33–24:32
4
How do attitudes function as the building blocks of epistemic virtues and vices?
24:32–31:05
5
What are the ‘vices of superiority’ such as superbia and how do they arise?
31:05–38:30
6
What are the ‘vices of inferiority’ and how do oppression and marginalisation foster them?
38:30–46:26
7
How do epistemic vices cause harms and moral wrongs in individuals and societies?
46:26–53:46
8
What strategies does the book suggest for cultivating epistemic virtues and dismantling vices?
53:46–1:01:37
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from New Books in Philosophy
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