Title Philosophical perspectives on autism: epistemic, moral and political
Title (croatian) Filozofske perspektive autizma: epistemičke, moralne i političke
Author Lekić Barunčić Kristina
Mentor Snježana Prijić-Samaržija (mentor)
Committee member Elvio Baccarini (predsjednik povjerenstva)
Committee member Ana Gavran Miloš (član povjerenstva)
Committee member Petar Bojanić https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9324-2209 (član povjerenstva)
Granter University of Rijeka Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (Department of Philosophy) Rijeka
Defense date and country 2020-12-04, Croatia
Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline HUMANISTIC SCIENCES Philosophy
Universal decimal classification (UDC ) 17 - Moral philosophy. Ethics. Practical philosophy
Abstract The dissertation primarily focuses on rethinking contemporary philosophical problems in relation to the new social perspective emerged within the neurodiversity movement. More specifically, the dissertation explores the philosophical perspectives of autism through three philosophical disciplines and three related fundamental issues. The first topic is derived our everyday socio-epistemic practices of testimonial exchange and trust assessment. In the process of attributing the credibility to epistemic subjects, unjustified stereotypes and prejudices related to certain social groups, their social status, and their (in) abilities, are often being key elements in the assessment. Cases of epistemic injustices that are at the center of the occupation of the doctoral thesis are those in which informers are subject to epistemic injustice based on their medical conditions - Autism Spectrum Disorder. The injustices manifests, above all, in the neglection of the significant cognitive potentials of autistic persons, stigmatization, and epistemic silencing. The consequences of such treatment are primarily epistemic, in a manner of loss of epistemic courage and deprivation of new (autistic) insights, but they also delve into practices of political decisions and policy-making. Persistent epistemic discrimination of autistic persons is related with the wrong attribution of values of autistic lives, as the neglect of epistemic potential of autistics causes some discrimination of the eugenic type and influences reproductive decisions and practices of genetic selection. Further, epistemic injustice caused by negative stereotypes and prejudices is tied to corrupt moral attitudes society holds on autistic individuals, which makes these practices inseparable from ethical discussions about the well being of the individual. Notably, autistic well-being is affected by said epistemic treatment, as advocated by proponents of the neurodiversity movement. At the core of the movement is the thought of autism as neurological diversity, which clearly raises the issue of health policies and the growing debate on whether autism should be treated at all. Considering the complexity of philosophical perspectives about autism elaborated in this dissertation, three aims could be extracted: first, to investigate the practices of epistemic injustice directed towards autistic persons and the consequences of such treatments; second, to tackle the moral consequences of discrimination of autistic cognitive potentials traced in value judgment of autistic lives; third, to relate moral attitudes about autism with political practices of policy making in health sectors. The above mentioned aims are connected to the idea of the proposed devaluation of autistic cognitive potentials rooted in improper epistemic practices, which withdraws the general aim of the dissertation: to start a discussion on the integration of autistic persons into a society that begins with their integration into the epistemic community, in addition to unbiased evaluation of their epistemic contributions and potentials.
Abstract (croatian) Disertacija se primarno fokusira na preispitivanje suvremenih filozofskih problema, skrećući pozornost na probleme koji nastaju u odnosu na novu društvenu perspektivu koja se pojavljuje pokretom neuroraznolikosti. Konkretnije, disertacija istražuje filozofske perspektive autizma kroz tri filozofske discipline i tri povezana temeljna problema. Prvi problem se pronalazi u našim svakodnevnim društveno-epistemološkim praksama razmjene svjedočanstava i procjene povjerenja. U procesu pripisivanja vjerodostojnosti epistemičkim subjektima često su ključni elementi u ocjeni neopravdani stereotipi i predrasude vezane za određene društvene skupine, njihov socijalni status i njihove (ne) sposobnosti. Slučajevi epistemičkih nepravdi koje su u središtu zanimanja doktorskog rada su oni u kojima informatori podliježu epistemičnoj nepravdi na temelju svojih zdravstvenih stanja - poremećaja iz spektra autizma. Nepravde se očituju prije svega u zanemarivanju kognitivnih potencijala osoba s autizmom, stigmatizaciji i epistemičkom utišavanju. Posljedice takvog postupanja ponajprije su epistemičke, na način gubitka epistemičke hrabrosti i lišavanja novih (autističnih) uvida, ali iste prodiru i u prakse reproduktivnih odluka i donošenja politika. Trajna epistemička diskriminacija autističnih osoba povezana je s pogrešnim pripisivanjem vrijednosti autističnih života, budući da zanemarivanje epistemičkih potencijala autističnih osoba uzrokuje određenu diskriminaciju eugeničkog tipa te utječe na reproduktivne odluke. Nadalje, epistemička nepravda uzrokovana negativnim stereotipima i predrasudama povezana je s korumpiranim kolektivnim moralnim stavovima prema autističnim osobama, zbog čega su ove prakse neodvojive od etičkih rasprava o dobrobiti pojedinca. Izvjesno je da navedeni epistemički tretman utječe na blagostanje i kvalitetu autističnih osoba, što posebno napominju zagovornici pokreta za neuroraznolikosti. U srži pokreta je misao o autizmu kao neurološke raznolikosti, što jasno povlači pitanje zdravstvene politike i rastuće rasprave o tome treba li se autizam liječiti. Uzimajući u obzir složenost filozofskih perspektiva o autizmu razrađenih u ovoj disertaciji, mogla bi se izdvojiti tri cilja: prvo, istražiti praksu epistemičke nepravde usmjerene prema autističnim osobama i posljedice takvih tretmana; drugo, rješavanje moralnih posljedica diskriminacije autističnih kognitivnih potencijala vidljivih u vrijednosnoj prosudbi života autista; treće, povezati moralne stavove o autizmu s političkim praksama kreiranja politika u zdravstvenom sektoru. Gore navedeni ciljevi povezani su s idejom predložene devalvacije autističnih kognitivnih potencijala ukorijenjene u neprimjerenim epistemičkim praksama, što povlači opći cilj disertacije: pokrenuti raspravu o integraciji autističnih osoba u društvo koje započinje njihovom integracijom u epistemičku zajednicu te vrednovanjem njihovih epistemičkih doprinosa i potencijala.
Keywords
Autism Spectrum Disorder
epistemic injustice
neurodiversity movement
epistemic virtues
quality of life
health policies
moral attitudes
Keywords (croatian)
autizam
epistemička nepravda
pokret neuroraznolikosti
epistemičke vrline
kvaliteta života
zdravstvene politike
moralni stavovi
Language english
URN:NBN urn:nbn:hr:186:187169
Study programme Title: Postgraduate doctoral study programme Philosophy and Contemporaneity Study programme type: university Study level: postgraduate Academic / professional title: doktor/doktorica znanosti, područje humanističkih znanosti, polje filozofija (doktor/doktorica znanosti, područje humanističkih znanosti, polje filozofija)
Type of resource Text
File origin Born digital
Access conditions Open access
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Created on 2021-10-13 10:33:32