Knowledge, Justice, and Subjects with Cognitive or Developmental Disability

Abstract

This thesis includes four research papers, each devoted to a topic in philosophy of cognitive disability and its intersection with other areas of philosophy. Three focus on issues of cognitive or developmental disability and epistemic injustice, drawing from theories by Miranda Fricker, Rebecca Mason, and José Medina. The fourth argues that attention to people with communication disability has important implications for our understanding of human rights. Specifically, distinguishing one’s right to communicate from one’s right to freedom of expression. Lessons are drawn along the way for our understanding of philosophically difficult concepts like identity, decision making, social capital, inclusion, and ignorance. Throughout, the philosophical approach involves attending to the lived experience of people with communication, cognitive, or developmental disability as a way to test the suitability of philosophical theories developed with other people in mind, and as such can be described as a project in Applied Philosophy.