Samet Merzifonluoglu

It is unequivocally known that certain rights are inherent to every human being. These rights cover a broad range, from the right to food and education to the right to freedom, among others. Most of these rights aim to secure our biological or social needs, ensuring the well-being of the right-holder. In addition to our biological and social needs, we have epistemic needs—such as the desire to know, understand, or accurately represent the world in an epistemic sense. In her recent book, Watson highlights an overlooked framework of rights concerning epistemic goods to which everyone is entitled. In the present paper, the question ‘Do children have epistemic rights that secure their epistemic needs?’ is examined. Drawing on Watson’s work, it is examined what epistemic rights are. Then it is considered whether children possess such rights and how to define them in the context of education. Finally, the ideal epistemic state that should be achieved in relation to these rights is discussed, concluding that, in educational settings, the aim must be to foster understanding, not just knowledge, to secure children’s rights epistemic rights.

ABSTRACT There is growing interest in epistemic injustice and its connection to education. However, the relation between social studies and epistemic injustice has not yet been adequately explored and this topic has been given insufficient attention by social studies educators. But it is regarded as an important resource for students who are socially disadvantaged to render their experiences intelligible. However, due to its unique status, it has also been an effective tool for those who are in power and want to maintain social inequalities. For that reason, social studies is the subject most likely to give rise to epistemic injustice in the classroom. In this paper, we address this issue that is currently coming to the fore in social studies. We argue that cultivating moral sensitivity plays a substantive role in overcoming epistemic injustice and this cultivation comes with shaping student’s schemas by integrating the interpretive resources into social studies.