First-person Authority and Epistemic Injustice

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between the failure to defer to first-person authority and the concept of epistemic injustice. Specifically, it argues that this failure cannot be classified as either hermeneutical or testimonial injustice, as it results in a general harm to the subject as an autonomous agent rather than exclusively to their epistemic capacity. The paper achieves two main goals. First, it identifies important limits in the notion of epistemic injustice. Not all communicative interpersonal interactions that involve intertwined epistemic and ethical failures can be categorized as epistemic injustice. Second, the paper shows that the norms of deference to first-person authority are unique to this phenomenon, as are the corresponding failures to adhere to such norms.