Participatory Conceptual Engineering as a Pathway to More Epistemically Just Practices of Conceptual Amelioration

Abstract This article suggests that questions of process are integral to considering the role of conceptual engineering in education. Using a case study of a collaborative inquiry‐based project of conceptual engineering with a group of disability activists, I will argue that particular epistemic and moral considerations of methodology arise when the concepts being re‐engineered are implicated in past and ongoing epistemic injustice. In particular, a participatory conceptual engineering methodology points to key normative commitments and does well at addressing considerations of hermeneutical justice, repair, and utility. I will argue that philosophers of education have good reasons to pursue participatory forms of conceptual engineering, that they have a vital role to play in conceptual engineering more broadly, and that they may in fact be necessary to avoid entrenching forms of injustice.