Thread by @Helenreflects

Some recent Uber drives and conversations (so long ago I was in an Uber!) about the vaccines make me think about misinformation and how important epistemic rights are. Many of these drivers had deeply mistaken, distorted beliefs about the vaccines and were hesitant to get them 1/

In this paper Lani Watson characterizes epistemic rights as a subset of human rights, more specifically "right to information, the right to know, the right to true and justified beliefs, the right to understand, and the right to truth" 2/

tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…

The Uber drivers I spoke to had distorted, mistaken beliefs about vaccines namely: that they would not be efficacious, that they weren't tested rigorously, that it was some scheme by Bill Gates, that they were unnecessary for them etc. All these beliefs are circulating 3/

Watson links epistemic rights to democracy and to the importance of a well-functioning democracy. We as citizens have a right to accurate, truthful (or at least attempts to truth) information if we are going to make informed democratic decisions--cf also John Dewey 4/

In that respect, sustained misinformation campaigns, about the vaccine and other things are a form of epistemic violence. They infringe upon the rights of individuals because they make it hard, if not impossible, to make informed, rational decisions 5/

It would be one thing if someone said I don't want the vaccine because I made a detailed study of the benefits for someone my age, and I don't care about protecting people. But many people make the decision based on false information 6/

And you cannot make rational decisions based on false information (anymore than you'd be able to rationally agree to have false information imparted to you.)
This ties into Watson's discussion of Brexit where the public was subject to a campaign of epistemic violence 7/

Namely, a sustained misinformation campaign by cynical self-interested individuals. We see something similar in e.g., the tobacco misinformation campaigns brilliantly described by @cailinmeister in this book yalebooks.yale.edu/book/978030023… 8/

Seeing the right to truth, the right to justified true beliefs, and to accurate information as human rights also helps us to recognize the importance of fighting misinformation. Doing so helps to empower people, and helps them to make decisions they can rationally agree to 9/

Maybe I am too much of a Kantian (??) here: I think anyone can rationally say "It's my choice to be deceived and misled." if we care about self-sufficiency, freedom and autonomy, we need to help people not go into conspiracy rabbitholes and being lied to /end