Do We Need a “European” Political Epistemology?

Abstract

The paper considers the idea of a “European” political epistemology, intimated by recent conferences and upcoming book projects. As a contrast to “Anglo-American” political epistemology, two kinds of differences are discussed that the label might signal: focusing on different examples used in political epistemology or focusing on a different style of doing political epistemology. Both offer avenues for interesting philosophical explorations. However, the paper argues that the burdens imposed by “European” are too heavy to bear. These involve the exclusion of examples from the Global South and the danger of perpetuating eurocentrism, for “European” political epistemology also marks a contrast to non-Western approaches from post- and decolonial thought.