Epistemic Dialogue

Abstract

Abstract This chapter develops the first of the patient-centered criteria laid down in Chapter 2: prioritize patient involvement. The aim is to lay down the foundations of an epistemic theory for patient-centered measures. Most of the development of this criterion focuses on the ethical and epistemic importance of prioritizing involvement of people with disabilities, patients, and other ill persons in the development of patient-centered measures. An approach to prioritizing patient involvement is developed called epistemic dialogue. Epistemic dialogue helps to foreground and take seriously marginalized testimony from the first-person perspective, but it also provides a role for secondhand perspectives such as health researchers. Thus, prioritizing patient involvement in measure development does not mean acquiescing to patient points of view; rather, it means coming to understand better the constructs patient-centered measures aim to access while making the most of the expertise people with disabilities, patients, and other ill people have on them.