Santa, socials, and secrets: hard cases for epistemic rights

Publication Date

12-1-2025

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Asian Journal of Philosophy

Volume

4

Issue

2

DOI

10.1007/s44204-025-00300-z

Abstract

In The Right to Know, Lani Watson forcefully argues in favor of recognizing epistemic rights to all humans. In this paper, we apply Watson’s framework to three hard cases. First, we consider interpersonal relationships and suggest that there is room to explore how epistemic rights bear on, e.g., whether parents can permissibly lie to or mislead their children by asserting the existence of Santa Claus. Second, we turn to social media platforms and contend that Watson’s framework is compatible with contrasting moderation policies and transparency requirements. Third, we examine a foundational case of legal ethics—the buried bodies case—which raises the question of how professional and moral duties might be weighed alongside Watson’s epistemic ones. In exploring these cases, we hope to incite practically minded philosophers to reflect upon the implications of Watson’s theory for contemporary debates in applied ethics and political philosophy.

Keywords

Attorney-client privilege, Content moderation, Epistemic rights, Lies, Social media, Transparency

Department

Philosophy

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