Kristoffer Ahlstrom-Vij, “Epistemic Paternalism: A Defence” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)
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What is epistemic paternalism and why does it matter?
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Welcome to the New Books and Philosophy Channel of the New Books Network. My name is Robert Talise, I'm professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co host the channel with Carrie Figter. Carrie is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Iowa. Today my guest is Professor Christopher Ostrom Vij. We'll be talking about his new book, Epistemic Paternalism, a Defense. Which is newly published by Paul Grave Macmillan. Christopher Alstrom Wij is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Kent. Many of our goals and aspirations depend upon our energy Epistemic capabilities Our attempts to do the right thing or to live a good life. can be greatly hampered if we're unable to form true beliefs and resist false ones.
Thus we have good reason to seek to be epistemically healthy, as it were. But we know that as fallible creatures, we are prone to a wide variety of errors and pitfalls. So we should seek epistemic improvement. However, we also know that our reasoning is vulnerable to various dysfunctions. That we find hard to detect in ourselves. And even when these are detected, we find that they're difficult to correct. So what should we do? In epistemic paternalism Christopher Alstromwij makes the case that we cannot rely on ourselves for epistemic improvement. but must instead endorse a general policy of epistemic paternalism. Epistemic paternalism, he says, is the policy of interfering with an agent's inquiry. For the epistemic good of the agent, without the need of the agent's consent.
That's a bold thesis, and this is an engaging and rigorously argued book. So let's turn to the interview. Hello Christopher Alstrom Vige. Hi Bob. How you doing today? Good. How about you? Oh, I'm doing fine. Thank you so much for joining us on New Books in Philosophy. Thank you. And uh thank you, listeners, for uh joining us for our discussion of Christopher's new book, Epistemic Paternalism, a defense. Uh, I highly recommend the book, um, both as a work in epistemology And as a work that lies at the intersection of um epistemology and social philosophy and political philosophy and ethics. Um indeed one of the things that is um really uh interesting about the book uh is the way it brings uh empirical considerations to bear on questions regarding our individual and collective epistemic goals, uh and our normative goals uh as thinking
creatures both individually and collectively uh in general. Um so uh there's a lot to talk about uh in this book. It's a uh a slim book with a lot of content. Um but first, Christopher, um let's uh let me ask you to uh tell us a little bit about yourself. Sure.
So yeah, I was um maybe I'll say a few words about how I came to do philosophy and the kind of philosophy I do in particular.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is epistemic paternalism and why does it matter?
0:00–9:08
2
How did Christopher Ahlstrom‑Vij’s personal and academic background shape his view of epistemology?
9:08–20:13
3
How does the book define epistemic paternalism as a policy of non‑consensual interference?
20:13–30:22
4
What cognitive biases and over‑confidence problems undermine our ability to improve epistemically?
30:22–39:41
5
What are the three main cases of epistemic paternalism discussed in the book (jury, randomisation, prediction models)?
39:41–49:27
6
How does the author respond to autonomy‑based objections to epistemic paternalism?
49:27–59:05
7
What is the ‘alignment condition’ and how might it apply to high‑stakes issues like climate change?
59:05–1:07:24
8
What future directions and alternative solutions (e.g., epistemic virtue) does the author propose?
1:07:24–1:16:18
Speakers
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