It can be difficult to hold onto or develop your social identity often because it can often be harshly challenged, opposed or ridiculed by others, even without justifiable reason. This is often due to ignorance towards other cultures and beliefs, or in worse cases intolerance towards them. This can lead to epistemic injustice. In the following essay I will define epistemic injustice in terms of its core components testimonial and hermeneutical injustice, and thereafter relate my personal experiences to where I fell victim to these injustices. Ultimately I will then explore how positive education can lead to understanding, and a reduction in epistemic injustice. There are three components relating to the definition of educational knowledge: belief, truth and justification (Horsthemke, 2013). Beliefs are essential to the acquisition of knowledge, justification comes in as a learner or individual may need good reasons (justifications) for believing something and successful teaching stems from being able to make a student come to believe something (Horsthemke, 2013). Epistemology is the philosophical study of knowledge and it is based on truth …show more content…
Individuals are classified as belonging to certain social groups based on perceived similarities in some aspect of their identity. Social identity might be rooted in material similarities (e.g. sex) or more purely conceptual similarities (e.g. race) between individuals. When the exertion of social power relies on some form of social identity, identity power is at work (Fricker, 2007). Intellectual function might be harmed broadly by epistemic injustice resulting in a lack of intellectual courage, as those who are subject to persistent prejudice fail to maintain even their own justified beliefs by giving up on them too quickly when faced with disputants (Fricker,