Abstract

In recent years, Chile has witnessed several cases of corruption committed by businessmen, who have colluded to set the prices of their products, avoiding competition and ensuring profits for all; in other words, they have behaved like real cartels. These businessmen have been tried and sentenced, but public opinion, to this day, vaguely knows their faces and, more importantly, their explanations of the events (their beliefs about what happened) have not been part of the debate nor their responses to the public’s questioning. They opted for silence, a behavior of silencing, which expresses not only a legal strategy, but above all a way of understanding responsibility and public debate. By opting for silence, they incur in an epistemic injustice that lies in the nonexistence of epistemic goods (beliefs) that facilitate the democratic resolution of public controversies, promoting a harmful habit of not fulfilling the dialectical commitments that are generated when a citizen is asked to communicate her reasons. © JÚLDER A. GÓMEZ Y DANIEL MEJÍA S.