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  • Essay / Epistemologies of Ignorance by Linda Alcoff Analysis

    Linda Alcoff uses “Epistemologies of Ignorance: Three Types”, improves on previous work already done within the framework of feminist epistemology and develops a typology of ignorance . She proposes that there are three types of epistemologies of ignorance, of the situation of the knowers, of the perception of the epistemology of the point of view, and that the third is a universal type. Known or unknown knowledge and expertise are used to distinguish between the powerful and the powerless. Alcoff also claims that traditional epistemology should not be used to assess ignorance because it is not sufficiently reflexive. Alcoff's view closely mirrors my own, so it is not a critical argument but a concurring view strengthening his argument. Let me refer to Alcoff’s section on “situated knowers.” She refers to the chapters of Code, Harding and Mills, in her proposal of three central points for analyzing the methods in which ignorance is produced. The first method involves individual knowers, the second relies on group identities, and the third operates through larger systems (Alcoff 2007, p. 40). reinforced by Code's formation of an ecology of ignorance maintained by “networks of distortion and error” (Code 2007, p. 214) which proposes an active correlation between agnotological positions. There is no absolute correlation between understanding construction practices and inverse agnotological practices. proposing an ecology of ignorance is consistent with Code's broader concept of knowledge construction within ecological thinking (Code 2006). When I am led to discover the foundations of something, I would describe it as "situated ignorances", which would describe the opposite of the Code Epistle. ...... middle of paper ...... osyncratic individualities and standardize connoisseurs and knowledge. The epistemology of particular knowledge requires taking into account distinctions and codifying, for admission and examination, the insight of knowers. Once knowledge is understood as distinctive and established by the knower, it abandons its status and becomes plural. This leads to a distinct understanding of those who know. At the same time, individual knowledge develops the epistemological substance that produces a bionetwork of knowledge that notifies and integrates social groups, organizations and associations. When accepting globally and keeping in mind the interconnectedness of knowers, the larger epistemological network is a societal or epistemological illusion. One who recommends the parameters of how it can be known, what can be known, and what becomes knowledge..