Papers

Michael Troop

Designers, systems thinkers, and change-makers must navigate a world they do not fully understand, with the looming potential for unintended consequences arising from their actions. Their work requires the incorporation of multiple and often conflicting viewpoints with and about a diverse range of stakeholders, tapping into the most reliable information available and considering long timelines. Even with the highest standards of praxis, strategies can be flawed, ineffective, and can even make the problem worse.

This presentation derives from a Major Research Project completed at OCAD University that sought to investigate how self-identified agents of change understood the ethical obligations and responsibilities relating to their work. Two lines of inquiry are inherent to this presentation—knowledge and uncertainty and epistemic ethics. Change initiatives will necessarily be based on what those charged with undertaking them know and believe. An introduction to how knowledge, or the lack thereof, can be classified is offered to ground this work within the larger epistemological context.

The ethical context of this work relates to an epistemological context as well, rather than a moral one. Epistemic humility is offered as an aspirational virtue that could be embraced by designers, innovators, and change agents as they conduct their work, and epistemic arrogance is described as a vice to be avoided. 

KEYWORDS: systemic design, ethics, epistemic humility, uncertainty, knowledge, epistemic arrogance

Citation Data

Author(s): Michael Troop
Year: 2022
Title: Facing Systemic Challenges with Epistemic Humility
Published in: Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design
Volume: RSD11
Article No.: 120
URL: https://rsdsymposium.org/facing-systemic-challenges-with-epistemic-humility
Host: University of Brighton
Location: Brighton, UK
Symposium Dates: October 3–16, 2022
First published: 22 September 2022
Last update: 30 April 2023
Publisher Identification: ISSN 2371-8404

Copyright Information

Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design (ISSN 2371-8404) are published annually by the Systemic Design Association, a non-profit scholarly association leading the research and practice of design for complex systems: 3803 Tønsberg, Norway (922 275 696).

Attribution

Open Access article published under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License. This permits anyone to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or form according to the licence terms.

Suggested citation format (APA)

Author(s). (20##). Article title. Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design, RSD##. Article ##. rsdsymposium.org/LINK

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Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design are published online and include the contributions for each format.

Papers and presentations are entered into a single-blind peer-review process, meaning reviewers see the authors’ names but not vice versa. Reviewers consider the quality of the proposed contribution and whether it addresses topics of interest or raises relevant issues in systemic design. The review process provides feedback and possible suggestions for modifications.

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Editor: Cheryl May
Advisors:
Peter Jones
Ben Sweeting

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