Locutionary Disablement and Epistemic Injustice

Abstract

In this paper, I investigate how the notion of epistemic injustice relates to two distinct, though not incompatible, models of the phenomenon of silencing: epistemic and linguistic. I argue that a linguistic model of silencing can be used to elucidate the nature of hermeneutical injustice—a type of epistemic injustice identified by Miranda Fricker. I put forth my own reformulation of the linguistic model of silencing as locutionary (as opposed to illocutionary) disablement, when it occurs in cases of hermeneutical injustice, and I argue that this reformulation can respond to the criticism that Fricker’s construal of hermeneutical injustice falls prey to charges of epistemic hegemony. I conclude by suggesting that this form of silencing, which has its origins in a history of political domination and dehumanization, is connected to a third, distinctive form of epistemic injustice (beyond testimonial and hermeneutical injustice), which concerns the unfair distribution of the burdens of communication between members of differently situated social groups.