Winter 2016: Epistemologies of Ignorance 01-34-550: Topics in Mind or Knowledge University of Windsor Tuesdays 1-3:50 -- DH 359 Professor: Dr. C. E. Hundleby Chrysler Hall North 2185 Email: hundleby@uwindsor.ca 519-253-3000 x 3947 Office Hours: Thursdays 1-2pm and by appointment COURSE EVALUATION: a) Participation: 20% Including preparedness, politeness, and promptness Seminar presentation Completion of final paper draft the week before presentation b) Seminar write-up 2 x/15 30% c) Paper proposal: under 300 words plus proposed bibliography 5% d) One commentary on another student s paper (700-1000 words) 10% e) Final paper (2500-3000 words) 35% FINAL ESSAY Purposes: 1. To develop an extended line of reasoning in the topic of this course, and to receive input from the professor and their peers as part of the revision process. 2. To practice composing and presenting a paper appropriate for an academic conference. Requirements: 1. Length: 2500-3000 words 2. Due: a. For presentation on scheduled date b. Final hardcopy to Dr. Hundleby in her office, Friday December 16 between 2 and 4 pm. 3. Topic: Beyond the required readings, but soundly resting within the (crossdisciplinary) scholarship on agnotology. May be ethical or historical, for instance, in addition to the central focus of this course, which is epistemological. 1
SCHEDULE (approximate and tentative) * indicates options for student seminars 1: September 13 - Introduction to Epistemologies of Ignorance Sign up for Seminars o Proctor, Agnotology: A missing term to describe the cultural production of ignorance (and its study) in Agnotology o Alcoff, Epistemologies of ignorance: Three types in Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance, 39-50 Alcoff, 50-57 (on Horkheimer) 2: September 20 Science, Selection, and Suppression o * Oreskes and Conway, Challenging knowledge: How climate science became a victim of the Cold War in Agnotology. o * Michaels, Manufacturing uncertainty: Contested science and the protection of the public s health and environment in Agnotology. o * Tuana, Coming to understand: Orgasm and the epistemology of ignorance in Agnotology and in Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance. Galison, Removing knowledge: The logic of modern censorship in Agnotology (US centered; deliberate secrecy) 3: September 27 Ignorant Cultures o * Proctor, Cancer Wars: How Politics Shapes What We Know & Don t Know about Cancer, Introduction and Conclusion, available in Terry s office. o * Christensen, Smoking out objectivity: Journalistic gears in the agnogenesis machine in Agnotology o * Ungar, Knowledge, ignorance and the popular culture: Climate change versus the ozone hole, Public Understanding of Science 9, 2000. On Blackboard o Magnus, Risk management versus the precautionary principle: Antology as a strategy in the debate over genetically engineered organisms in Agnotology (ethics) o Spelman, Managing ignorance in Race and epistemologies of ignorance October 4 class cancelled -- Replaced by Hundleby s CRRAR talk in November 2
Reading Week October 10-14 4: October 18 Lost Knowledge, Lost Worlds o Schiebinger, West Indian abortifacients and the making of ignorance in Agnotology o * Mayor, Suppression of indigenous fossil knowledge: From Claverack, New York, 1705, to Agate Springs, Nebraska, 2005 in Agnotology o Wylie, Mapping ignorance in archaeology: The advantage of historical hindsight in Agnotology 5: October 25 - The Racial Contact Mills, The Racial Contract (on reserve at Leddy Library) o * Ch. 1, Overview o Ch. 2, Details o * Ch. 3, Naturalized merits o Mills, The Racial Contract revisited. On Blackboard o * Code, The power of ignorance in Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance 6: November 1 - White Ignorance and Philosophical Ignorance o * Mills, White ignorance in both Agnotology and Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance o * Mills, Ideal theory as ideology in Hypatia 2005. On o * Townley, Toward a revaluation of ignorance, in Hypatia 21(3), 2006. o Harding, Two influential theories of ignorance and philosophy s interests in ignoring them, Hypatia 21(3). o Bernasconi, On needing not to know and forgetting what one never knew: The epistemology of ignorance in Franz Fanon s critique of Sartre in Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance o Almassi, Review of A Defense of Ignorance: Its Value for Knowers and Roles in Feminist and Social Epistemologies by Cynthia Townley. Hypatia 28, 2013. 7: November 8 Education, Disciplines, and Ignorance Paper proposal due o * Outlaw, Social ordering and the systematic production of ignorance in Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance 3
o * Fullerton, On the absence of biology in philosophical considerations of race in Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance o * Hall, Not much to praise in such seeking and finding : Evolutionary psychology, the biological turn in the humanities, and the epistemology of ignorance. Hypatia 27, 2012. Optional o Smithson, Social theories of ignorance in Agnotology (academic methods) o Kuokannen, What is hospitality in the academy? Epistemic ignorance and the (im)possible gift. Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 30, 2008. 8: Thursday November 10 or 17 - Argument from Ignorance CRRAR talk by Dr. Hundleby in Essex 106 Required Readings: o Walton, The appeal to ignorance, or argumentum ad ignorantiam, Argumentation 13, 1999. o Blair. Review of Walton s Argumentation Schemes for Presumptive Reasoning. Argumentation 13, 1999. o Lugones, On complex communication, in Hypatia 21(3), 2006. o Zarefsky, Terrorism and the argument from ignorance. 2014. On 9: November 15 Resistance and Ignorance Paper proposal returned Paper schedule set o * Bailey, Strategic ignorance in in Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance o * Tuana, The speculum of ignorance: The women s health movement and epistemologies of ignorance, Hypatia 21(3), 2006. o * Ortega. Being lovingly, knowingly ignorant: White feminism and women of colour, Hypatia 21(3) 2006. o May, Trauma in paradise: Willful and strategic ignorance in Cereus Blooms at Night, Hypatia 21(3), 2006. o Deutscher, When feminism is high and ignorance is low : Harriet Taylor Mill on the progress of the species, Hypatia 21(3), 2006. On o Hundleby, The epistemological evaluation of oppositional secrets, Hypatia 20, 2005, 44-58. 4
10: November 22 Ignorance and Relationality Drafts of papers due to your commentators and to Dr. Hundleby Required reading: o * Hoagland, Denying relationality: Epistemology and ethics and ignorance in Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance. o * Grasswick, Climate change science and responsible trust: A situated approach, Hypatia 29(3), 2014. o Pohlhaus, Relational knowing and epistemic injustice: Toward a theory of willful hermeneutical ignorance, Hypatia 27(4), 2012. o Cormier, Ever not quite: Unfinished societies and pragmatism in Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance. o Adger et al. Are there social limits to adaptation to climate change? Climatic Change 93, 2009. Sunday November 27 at 11:59pm: Commentaries for Mini-conference I due by email to authors and Dr. Hundleby 11: November 29 - Mini-conference I Paper 1 & commentary Paper 2 & commentary Paper 3 & commentary Sunday December 4 at 11:59pm: Commentaries for Mini-conference II due by email to authors and Dr. Hundleby 12: December 6 - Mini-conference II Paper 4 & commentary Paper 5 & commentary Paper 6 & commentary MATERIALS 1. Agnotology and Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance are for sale at the University Bookstore 2. The Racial Contract is on reserve at the Leddy Library 3. All other articles are as indicated either: i. On reserve in Terry s office ii. On the Blackboard site, under Resources 4. Supplementary material on the Blackboard site, under Resources 5