An Introduction to the ESPEECHI Project

In this post, Manuel Almagro and Carme Isern-Mas present a recently funded project on epistemic and speech injustices. The project is led by Manuel Almagro, and it features Carme Isern-Mas as researcher, together with Gloria Andrada (NOVA Institute of Philosophy), Virginia Ballesteros (University of Valencia) and Pilar Terrés (University of Valencia).

ESPEECHI (Epistemic and Speech Injustices) is a two-year research project funded by the government of the autonomous region of Valencia (Generalitat Valenciana), Spain. ESPEECHI aims to further explore the nature of different types of epistemic and speech injustices from two different angles.

First, we will address the relationship between the epistemic and the linguistic dimensions of different forms of injustice. Our general hypothesis is that analyzing forms of injustice from both domains can reveal important aspects of the nature of such injustices.

The working hypothesis of this first part of the project include:

1. Social structures and practices are especially relevant to account for, and intervene in, cases of epistemic and speech injustices.
2. Deep disagreements, properly understood, could be helpful in alleviating epistemic and speech injustices.
3. There are alternative approaches to speech act theory that can address and account better for speech injustice cases.
4. Offensiveness and certain speech injustices are two sides of the same coin if approached from a certain view on normativity.

In the second part of the project, we will study the particularities of epistemic and speech injustices in specific contexts. One of the features that makes research on epistemic and speech injustices so complex and interesting is that each of these injustices may have both an epistemic and linguistic dimension. Moreover, studying these injustices in specific domains can reveal previously unnoticed unjust practices and enhance our understanding of such phenomena. In this part of the project, we will further explore the presence of these injustices in two contexts: mental health, and STEM domains.

The working hypotheses of this second part of the project include:

• The psychiatric context, given its implications, has specific particularities that, although they can help us better understand epistemic and speech injustices, the conclusions and policies derived from research within this context cannot be generalized and extrapolated to other contexts.
• Appealing to subjective interests to explain gender and race gaps in STEM is misleading and harmful, because it hides some discriminatory practices and institutional structures, which foster epistemic and speech injustices, that contribute to these gaps.

We plan to organize two workshops on these topics that will be held at the University of Valencia, one in November of 2024 and the other at the end of 2025. We will publicize them through the project’s website, so be sure to check it regularly. Stay tuned for more updates!

Manuel Almagro is Assistant Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of Valencia, Spain, specializing in political epistemology, political philosophy of language, and experimental philosophy. Manuel works on political polarization, disagreement, offensive meaning, expressivism, epistemic injustice, and Wittgenstein’s philosophy.

Carme Isern-Mas is Assistant Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of the Balearic Islands, specializing in moral psychology and applied ethics. Carme works on blame, empathy, moral motivation, and self-deception, and has an interest in the bioethics of mental health, particularly epistemic and affective injustice, and the ethics of fame.