Lecture
LTP Colloquium "The Right to Explanation, Narrative Identity, and Epistemic Injustice"
- Date
- Thursday 6 November 2025
- Time
- Location
-
P.J. Veth
Nonnensteeg 1-3
2311 VJ Leiden - Room
- 0.06
The Leiden University Centre Theoretical Philosophy is pleased to announce a lecture by Dr. Barend de Rooij, Assistant professor at the Department of Philosophy at the Tilburg University.
The right to explanation is the putative right of data subjects to an explanation of how and/or why algorithmic decisions affecting them are made. It is often proposed as a response to the problem of algorithmic opacity, or the inscrutability of AI-powered decision-making systems that shape important aspects of our lives. In this talk, I examine three moral grounds commonly invoked in defense of the right to explanation: deliberative agency, informed self-advocacy, and public accountability. I then introduce a fourth: our broader interest in making sense of significant events that affect us and in situating them within our life narratives. Recognizing the impact of algorithms on narrative identity not only strengthens the case for a right to explanation but also highlights how missing or inadequate explanations can contribute to hermeneutical injustice.