TL;DR: Epistemic autonomyrefers to the degree to which you are able to change your mind without letting outside sources, such as social and financial pressure, affect it. To increase your epistemic autonomy, you can refrain from publishing your opinions, reduce your conflicts of interest, or change your environment, among other things. However, there are usually tradeoffs, and increasing epistemic autonomy might not always be worth it.
The politician
Imagine you are a politician who, in the middle of her term, experiences a genuine change of mind. Perhaps a world event or personal reflection leads you to reject a stance you once held. After adjusting your political behavior based on the newly held belief, you find that your fellow party members start to dislike you. You also find people mocking you on the internet, vowing to not vote for you anymore, since you don’t represent their views anymore.
The fast fashion retailer
Imagine you work for a fast fashion retailer. You have worked in the company for many years, and are in a high position in the company. In the past few years the public has raised concerns regarding the environment and labor exploitation, and you have also been challenged for furthering these effects. However, you continue to believe your work is valuable for society, and don’t see anything wrong with your company’s impact on the environment and workers.
Religious family
Imagine you were raised in a religious family in a small village. Everyone in the village goes to church, and the church has a lot of power over villagers’ lives. You aren’t totally isolated though, because you have a TV and internet. The people in movies don’t always practice religion and sometimes they even say heretical things. To you, these people seem weird, and you couldn’t see such people in your village.
Epistemic autonomy
In all of the above situations, there are powerful forces which push you away from reaching true beliefs autonomously. In other words, your epistemic autonomy is hampered. The concerns of humiliation, shame, and simple inconvenience could render it difficult to even start questioning your beliefs.
Maintaining and increasing your epistemic autonomy
As we are all a part of a social network, our epistemic autonomy is somehow limited. However, there are ways of increasing your epistemic autonomy.
The most obvious, but possibly not the most effective approach is practicing rationality skills, staring into the abyss being one of the most important ones.
Refrain from publishing your opinions. Every time you speak your mind, you put some of your social status on the plate. This is especially true if you convince other people and are praised for it, because if you later change your mind, it would render some of the social status you gained obsolete. However, it is important to note that publishing your opinions can have many benefits, so refraining from doing that might usually not be worth it.
Take conflicts of interest seriously. While the term “conflict of interest” is often used to explain why it is difficult for other people to trust your decisions, it can also serve as a warning sign for an area where you are less able to form beliefs autonomously.
Change your (social) environment. Exposing yourself to social circles where people have very different beliefs can allow you to challenge your beliefs in a safe way.
Trade-offs
Epistemic autonomy is a resource, so if you want more of it, you often need to give up something. For example, when you participate in a political discussion on social media, you’re giving up some of your epistemic autonomy in exchange for many possible things: social status, entertainment, possibility of changing other people’s minds, etc. This tradeoff might be worth it for you, or it might not be. Or if you take up a particular job, you become less autonomous in exchange for things like money and social status. Making these tradeoffs is not always trivial, but having the concept of epistemic autonomy can help you make them.
On epistemic autonomy
TL;DR: Epistemic autonomy refers to the degree to which you are able to change your mind without letting outside sources, such as social and financial pressure, affect it. To increase your epistemic autonomy, you can refrain from publishing your opinions, reduce your conflicts of interest, or change your environment, among other things. However, there are usually tradeoffs, and increasing epistemic autonomy might not always be worth it.
The politician
Imagine you are a politician who, in the middle of her term, experiences a genuine change of mind. Perhaps a world event or personal reflection leads you to reject a stance you once held. After adjusting your political behavior based on the newly held belief, you find that your fellow party members start to dislike you. You also find people mocking you on the internet, vowing to not vote for you anymore, since you don’t represent their views anymore.
The fast fashion retailer
Imagine you work for a fast fashion retailer. You have worked in the company for many years, and are in a high position in the company. In the past few years the public has raised concerns regarding the environment and labor exploitation, and you have also been challenged for furthering these effects. However, you continue to believe your work is valuable for society, and don’t see anything wrong with your company’s impact on the environment and workers.
Religious family
Imagine you were raised in a religious family in a small village. Everyone in the village goes to church, and the church has a lot of power over villagers’ lives. You aren’t totally isolated though, because you have a TV and internet. The people in movies don’t always practice religion and sometimes they even say heretical things. To you, these people seem weird, and you couldn’t see such people in your village.
Epistemic autonomy
In all of the above situations, there are powerful forces which push you away from reaching true beliefs autonomously. In other words, your epistemic autonomy is hampered. The concerns of humiliation, shame, and simple inconvenience could render it difficult to even start questioning your beliefs.
Maintaining and increasing your epistemic autonomy
As we are all a part of a social network, our epistemic autonomy is somehow limited. However, there are ways of increasing your epistemic autonomy.
The most obvious, but possibly not the most effective approach is practicing rationality skills, staring into the abyss being one of the most important ones.
Refrain from publishing your opinions. Every time you speak your mind, you put some of your social status on the plate. This is especially true if you convince other people and are praised for it, because if you later change your mind, it would render some of the social status you gained obsolete. However, it is important to note that publishing your opinions can have many benefits, so refraining from doing that might usually not be worth it.
Take conflicts of interest seriously. While the term “conflict of interest” is often used to explain why it is difficult for other people to trust your decisions, it can also serve as a warning sign for an area where you are less able to form beliefs autonomously.
Change your (social) environment. Exposing yourself to social circles where people have very different beliefs can allow you to challenge your beliefs in a safe way.
Trade-offs
Epistemic autonomy is a resource, so if you want more of it, you often need to give up something. For example, when you participate in a political discussion on social media, you’re giving up some of your epistemic autonomy in exchange for many possible things: social status, entertainment, possibility of changing other people’s minds, etc. This tradeoff might be worth it for you, or it might not be. Or if you take up a particular job, you become less autonomous in exchange for things like money and social status. Making these tradeoffs is not always trivial, but having the concept of epistemic autonomy can help you make them.