The Veridictive Force of Embodied Care

There is a force of truth that stems from embodied care. Drawing on the decision of Mamie Till-Mobley to show the mutilated body of her son Emmett, a victim of a violent racist attack, this chapter argues for a relational veridiction through the process reliabilism of embodied care. Caring relationships generate significant knowledge and truth that should hold substantial epistemic standing, despite being stifled by prevailing neoliberal values. Michel Foucault’s notion of veridiction, Vrinda Dalmiya’s care reliabilism are employed to assert that the body sustains relational caring knowledge vital to human flourishing. That knowledge can resist neoliberal narratives that frame humanity as self-seeking individuals who derive primary worth from quantitative productive output. Because we are embodied beings, the truth of care can be understood in our bodies and transmitted to others, as Till-Mobley recognized. Caring relationships should be valued for their veridictive power.