Children's Epistemic Rights in Education

Abstract

It is unequivocally known that certain rights are inherent to every human being. These rights cover a broad range, from the right to food and education to the right to freedom, among others. Most of these rights aim to secure our biological or social needs, ensuring the well-being of the right-holder. In addition to our biological and social needs, we have epistemic needs-such as the desire to know, understand, or accurately represent the world in an epistemic sense. In her recent book, Watson highlights an overlooked framework of rights concerning epistemic goods to which everyone is entitled. In the present paper, the question 'Do children have epistemic rights that secure their epistemic needs?' is examined. Drawing on Watson's work, it is examined what epistemic rights are. Then it is considered whether children possess such rights and how to define them in the context of education. Finally, the ideal epistemic state that should be achieved in relation to these rights is discussed, concluding that, in educational settings, the aim must be to foster understanding, not just knowledge, to secure children's rights epistemic rights.