The concept of cognitive justice is based on the recognition of the plurality of

knowledge Knowledge can be defined as Descriptive knowledge, awareness of facts or as Procedural knowledge, practical skills, and may also refer to Knowledge by acquaintance, familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called pro ...

and expresses the right of the different forms of knowledge to co-exist. Indian scholar

Shiv Visvanathan Shiv Visvanathan is an Indian academic best known for his contributions to developing the field of science and technology studies (STS), and for the concept of cognitive justice, a term he coined. He is currently Professor at O P Jindal Global Un ...

coined the term cognitive justice in his 1997 book "A Carnival for Science: Essays on science, technology and development". Commenting on the destructive impact of

hegemonic Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one state over other states. In Ancient Greece (8th BC – AD 6th ), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of the ''hegemon'' city-state over other city-states. ...

Western science on

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

and non-Western cultures, Visvanathan calls for the recognition of alternative sciences or non-Western forms of knowledge. He argues that different knowledges are connected with different livelihoods and lifestyles and should therefore be treated equally. Cognitive justice is a critique on the dominant paradigm of modern science and promotes the recognition of alternative paradigms or alternative sciences by facilitating and enabling dialogue between, often incommensurable, knowledges. These dialogues of knowledge are perceived as contributing to a more sustainable, equitable, and democratic world. The call for cognitive justice is found in a growing variety of fields, such as

ethnobiology ] Ethnobiology is the scientific study of the way living things are treated or used by different human cultures. It studies the dynamic relationships between people, biota, and environments, from the distant past to the immediate present.culture ...

, technology and database design, and in information and communication technology for development (ICT4D).Reilly, Katherine (2010).
From ICT4D to Cognitive Justice: Designing Research for Open Development
. Retrieved on January 7, 2011 South-African scholar and UNESCO education expert Catherine Odora Hoppers wrote about cognitive justice in the field of education. Odora Hoppers, Catherine A. (2009). "Education, culture and society in a globalizing world: implications for comparative and international education". In Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 601 - 614 She argued that indigenous knowledges have to be included in the dialogues of knowledge without having to fit in the structures and standards of Western knowledge. When Indigenous knowledges are treated equally, they can play their role in making a more democratic and dialogical science, which remains connected to the livelihoods and survival of all cultures.

See also

References

Further reading