Skip to main content

Epistemic justice is both a legitimate and an integral goal of psychiatry: a reply to Kious, Lewis and Kim (2023)

Radoilska, Lubomira V., Foreman, David (2023) Epistemic justice is both a legitimate and an integral goal of psychiatry: a reply to Kious, Lewis and Kim (2023). Psychological Medicine, . ISSN 0033-2917. E-ISSN 1469-8978. (doi:10.1017/S003329172300082X) (KAR id:101449)

PDF Author's Accepted Manuscript
Language: English

DOI for this version: 10.22024/UniKent/01.02.101449.3389664

Download (252kB) Preview
[thumbnail of Radoilska_AAV Epistemic Justice in Psychiatry.pdf]
Preview
This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.
Request an accessible format
Official URL:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329172300082X

Abstract

In a recent Editorial, Kious et al. (2023) put forward the claim that psychiatrists should resist calls to integrate concerns about epistemic injustice into their practice as this concept not only fails to add significantly to the current professional standards but would also lead to deleterious clinical outcomes. We believe their claim is mistaken, as it arises from several misconceptions about both the nature of epistemic injustice, and its clinical relevance. First, epistemic justice is conflated with what the authors term ‘a quest for social justice’ that could ‘sideline principles of good clinical reasoning’ (Kious at al 2023: 4). Second, the claim about the impracticality and/or counterproductivity of epistemic injustice as a critical tool within psychiatric practice reflects a series of misconceptions about the normative framework from which this concept derives, so the standards they evaluate it against are ill-chosen. Pace Kious at al., fostering epistemic justice in any area of knowledge and inquiry could not – unwittingly or otherwise – inhibit the consideration of relevant evidence, restrict sound argument or facilitate the casual treatment of testimonies at face value. Third and final, this claim obfuscates some immediate ways in which a focus on epistemic justice as an integral goal will strengthen psychiatric practice according to its own internal standards.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1017/S003329172300082X
Uncontrolled keywords: epistemic justice; evidence; psychiatry; values
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > Department of Philosophy
Funders: Research England (https://ror.org/02wxr8x18)
Depositing User: Lubomira Radoilska
Date Deposited: 28 May 2023 13:38 UTC
Last Modified: 30 May 2023 10:37 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/101449 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)
Radoilska, Lubomira V.: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6442-0459
  • Depositors only (login required):

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year