Abstract: In my presentation, I will propose a phenomenological account of epistemic agency that draws on and develops some insights in Edmund Husserl’s work. After doing so, I will respond to some concerns that have been raised about the very idea of epistemic agency. In concluding, I will discuss how this account can add descriptively to our understanding of the epistemic phenomenon of active ignorance.
Dr. Hanne Jacobs is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Graduate Program at Loyola University Chicago. She has published articles on topics in phenomenology such as personhood, attention, rationality, and phenomenological method. Her current research interest is in theories of knowledge that take our socio-historical embeddedness seriously. While Jacobs has mainly written on Edmund Husserl and post-Husserlian phenomenology, she also has an active research interest in moral psychology and social epistemology insofar as these intersect with critical race and feminist theory.