Sarah

Miller

Philosophy 101

Prof. Griffin Klemick

23 January 2014

According to Medina, the main cognitive asset of epistemically virtuous

subjects among oppressed groups is their meta-lucidity, or their ability to

recognize the errors and limitations of the dominant perspectiveusually as a

result of their personal experiences of oppression. A person with this perspective

could, by describing their experiences to someone of another group, provide

insights to motivate cognitive transformation and social change. Such motivation

could come about through a moment of revelation, in which the person relating

their lucid experiences intrudes upon the self-assured or selfishly preoccupied

consciousness of another, and in which their truth claims and demands for justice

disrupt the prejudices of the other, thus revealing the need for change. This is

transcendencethe authority of the person relating their experience comes from a

place beyond the concerns of individuals and human communities.