6 Agnotology, Hermeneutical Injustice, and Scientific Pluralism: The Case of Asperger Syndrome

Agnotology and hermeneutical injustice are among the most fruitful new ideas in social epistemology.
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When the ideas were first presented, they came with examples that have become canonical: lost knowledge of abortifacients and climate change denial (for agnotology), and postpartum depression, sexual harassment, and sexual identity (for hermeneutical injustice). These examples have been useful for introducing the concepts of agnotology and hermeneutical injustice, but they oversimplify the epistemology. The purpose of this chapter is to explore a case—the diagnostic category of Asperger syndrome, embraced in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and then jettisoned in 2013—in which it is essential to acknowledge the more complex epistemic situation.
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