The Power and Perils of Being Believed

In Sybille Krämer & Sigrid Weigel (eds.), Testimony/Bearing Witness: Current Controversies in Light of Historical Perspectives and Theoretical Debates. London, UK: Rowman & Littlefield (2017)
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Abstract

In recent years several philosophers have argued that there is an irreducibly interpersonal dimension to the epistemology of testimony. I here revisit the account of testimony that I offered in Testimony, Trust, and Authority and explore some of its broader ethical and political implications. On the account that I propose, there is a deep parallel between the way in which the testimony of epistemic authorities impacts on the agency that we exercise in settling theoretical questions and the way in which the directives of practical authorities impact on the agency that we exercise in settling practical questions. This sheds light both on the way in which the testimony of victims of violence, oppression, and discrimination can have a reparative power that outstrips its probative value and on the anxiety that victims can feel about the very possibility of being believed. To be believed is to be granted the power to settle theoretical questions for others, a power that can restore a sense of agency that was damaged by violence or oppression. But in the wake of the dehumanizing effects of such oppression, this is a power that victims can feel unable to exercise, especially when their testimony concerns events that are difficult for their addressees to face or comprehend. In such cases, even non-culpable lack of comprehension from addressees can render victims unable to exercise a basic form of human agency.

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Benjamin McMyler
University of Minnesota

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Schwerpunkt: Zeugenschaft.Sibylle Schmidt - 2019 - Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 67 (6):974-978.

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