ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the epistemic behavior of groups through an elucidation of the epistemic vices that can be found in privileged groups in contrast with the epistemic virtues that can be found in the collective thinking of oppressed or mixed groups. The chapter discusses psychological, epistemic, and discursive models of epistemic bubbles and echo chambers, focusing on the epistemic vice of critical insensitivity as it appears in the group dynamics of homogeneous, racially privileged groups that become echo chambers. The analysis highlights the specific form that the epistemic vice of critical insensitivity with respect to racial bias takes as a group vice, rather than as an individual vice. The chapter also discusses how the critical insensitivity of groups and institutions can be resisted through the epistemic empowerment of oppressed groups and what I call epistemic activism.
