Kristoffer Ahlstrom-Vij, from the Department of Philosophy, was interviewed on Thursday 1 May by the New Books Network about his book Epistemic Paternalism: A Defence.
The book, which was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2013, argues that, while we know that we are fallible creatures, liable to cognitive bias, we also have a strong and stubborn tendency to overestimate our reasoning capacities, which presents a problem for any attempt to help us reason in more accurate ways. The solution to this problem lies in accepting a form of epistemic paternalism. Accepting such paternalism is to accept that we are sometimes justified in interfering with the inquiry of another without her consent but for her own epistemic good.
The New Books Network is an online consortium of podcasts dedicated to raising the level of public debate and awareness by introducing serious authors to serious audiences. Kristoffer was interviewed by Robert Talisse, Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, who highly recommended this engaging and rigorously argued book.
The interview can be listened to in full at: http://newbooksinphilosophy.com/2014/05/01/kristoffer-ahlstrom-vij-epistemic-paternalism-a-defence-palgrave-macmillan-2013/