Some Iterations on The Subject s Perspective Objection to Externalism By Hunter Gentry

Size: px
Start display at page:

Download "Some Iterations on The Subject s Perspective Objection to Externalism By Hunter Gentry"

Transcription

1 Gentry 1 Some Iterations on The Subject s Perspective Objection to Externalism By Hunter Gentry The subject s perspective objection to externalism is one of the most widely discussed objections in the contemporary analytic epistemology literature. Let s take a look at the case that started it all: Norman, under certain conditions that usually obtain, is a completely reliable clairvoyant with respect to certain kinds of subject matter. He possesses no evidence or reasons of any kind for or against the general possibility of a such a cognitive power, or for or against the thesis that he possesses it. One day Norman comes to believe that the president is in New York City, though he has no evidence either for or against this belief. In fact the belief is true and results from his clairvoyant power, under circumstances in 1 which it is completely reliable. Famous Norman appears in Laurence BonJour s article entitled Externalist Theories of Empirical Knowledge (1980) and was meant to be a counterexample to reliabilism. BonJour asks if Norman is epistemically justified in believing that the president is in New York. On reliabilist accounts that stipulate that a belief that P is justified for S if it is the result of a reliable cognitive process, it seems so. But BonJour asks further, is it not the case that Norman is subjectively irrational and thereby not epistemically justified? Indeed, the case of Norman, according to BonJour, suggests three things: (1) Justification requires evidence, (2) Reliability is not sufficient for justification, (3) And evidence makes it the case that P s truth (if it is true), is not an accident from S s subjective perspective. 1 BonJour in Kornblith p.21

2 Gentry 2 All this being said, it is clear that at least evidential justifiers are required for a belief s being justified. BonJour ultimately uses Norman to defend coherentism, thus he thinks that only beliefs can serve as evidential justifiers i.e. coherence is internally accessible. (1990): Let s take a look at another case from Keith Lehrer in his book: Theory of Knowledge Suppose a person, whom we shall name Mr. Truetemp, undergoes brain surgery by an experimental surgeon who invents a small device which is both a very accurate thermometer and a computational device capable of generating thoughts. The device, call it a tempucomp, is implanted in Truetmp s head so that the very tip of the device, no larger than the head of a pin, sits unnoticed on his scalp and acts as a sensor to transmit information about the temperature to the computational system in his brain. This device, in turn, sends a message to his brain causing him to think of the temperature recorded by the external sensor. Assume that the tempucomp is very reliable, and so his thoughts are correct temperature thoughts. All told, this is a reliable belief forming process. Now imagine, finally, that he has no idea that the tempucomp has been inserted in his brain, is only slightly puzzled about why he thinks so obsessively about the temperature, but never checks a thermometer to determine whether these thoughts about the temperature are correct. He accepts them unreflectively, another effect of the tempucomp. Thus, he 2 thinks and accepts that the temperature is 104 degrees. Lehrer thinks that Truetemp is certainly not justified in believing that the temperature is 104. Why? Because he has no idea whether he or his thoughts are reliable indicators of the temperature. Moreover, he accepts blindly the belief that it is 104 degrees, that is, he has no evidence for that claim. This sounds eerily familiar to Norman. Neither Norman nor Truetemp 2 Lehrer pg.163 4

3 Gentry 3 have evidence for their beliefs. That being said, although the belief is correct, they do not 3 believe or have some evidence to indicate that it is correct. This suggest that it would be an accident from their perspective that their beliefs are true. Thus, they are not justified. There are a multiplicity of cases to be made here that parallel the suggestions by BonJour and Lehrer, but the motivator for thinking these cases have weight is the intuition that we need evidence to be justified, something internally accessible to the subject such that it is not an accident from her perspective that the belief be true (if it s true). I want to take pause here to make a short stipulation between externalism and internalism. One thing the subject s perspective objection is not doing is giving a knock down objection to externalism as a whole. Alvin Goldman said recently in a commentary on Jack Lyons (2008): [I]t s a plain mistake to suppose that reliabilism rejects all internal justifiers. Here is the correct way to view the matter. According to the canonical way of distinguishing internalist from externalist theories, what makes a theory internalist is it s claim (explicit or implicit) that all justifiers (justifying factors) are internal. What makes a theory externalist is its denial of internalism. In other words, and externalist theory is one that implies that not all justifiers are internal, i.e., that some justifiers (or justifying factors) are 4 external. This is an important point because in order for the subject s perspective objection to be successful at objecting to an externalist theory, the externalist theory in question, must deny all internal justifiers or (depending on the way the subject s perspective objection is used) deny the requirement of evidential justifiers. It s clear that some externalist theories do not refute all 3 In the contemporary literature, this condition is expressed in many ways, i.e., believe, believe with justification, identify, indicate, etc. 4 Goldman pg.462

4 Gentry 4 internal justifiers and there is at least one that does not refute evidential justifiers (I think Comesaña s evidential reliabilism might qualify). Bergmann s Dilemma for Internalism Bergmann s dilemma is aimed at Access Internalisms (AI), that is, justification theories that require awareness of some justification contributors. Bergmann sketches out the awareness as follows: AR: S s belief B is justified only if (i) there is something X that contributes to the justification of B e.g., evidence for B, or a truth indicator for B, or the satisfaction of some necessary condition of B s justification and (ii) S is aware (or potentially aware) of 5 X. 6 There can be two types of awareness required of S: strong or weak. Strong awareness entails the following: Actual doxastic strong awareness requirement (ADSAR): S s belief B is justified only if (i) there is something X that contributes to the justification of B and (ii) S is actually aware of X in such a way that S justifiably believes that X is in some way relevant to the 7 appropriateness of holding B. And weak awareness does not require of S that he conceive of the justification contributor (the object of awareness) as in some way relevant to the appropriateness of holding B. Given these terms, we can construct the dilemma: Dilemma for Internalism: 5 Bergmann Pg. 9 6 Strong and weak can be explicated further in terms of actual versus potential and non doxastic versus doxastic, but for our purposes, we will take actual doxastic strong awareness as representative of the general view. 7 pg.17

5 Gentry 5 (1) An essential feature of internalism is that it makes a subject s actual or potential awareness of some justification contributor a necessary condition for the justification of any belief held by that subject. (2) The awareness required by internalism is either strong or weak. (3) If the awareness is strong, then internalism has vicious regress problems leading to radical skepticism. (4) If the awareness is weak, then internalism is vulnerable to the SPO, in which case internalism loses its main motivation for imposing the awareness requirement. (5) If internalism either leads to radical skepticism or loses its main motivation for imposing awareness, then we should not endorse internalism. 8 (6) Therefore, we should not endorse internalism. How is it that strong awareness leads to vicious regress? Imagine S s belief B is justified for her. Under ADSAR, S must hold a meta belief B1 such that S believes that her justification contributor X is in some way relevant to the appropriateness of holding B. But if that s true, then B1 must be justified by another meta belief B2 such that S believes her justification contributor X1 is in some way relevant to the appropriateness of holding B1. And the regress is on! What about this SPO business for internalism? I thought SPO was an objection to externalism. It is, remember, to avoid the SPO, a theory of justification must make it the case that whenever S is justified in believing B, it must not be an accident from S s perspective that it be true (if it is true). But under weak awareness, according to Bergmann, merely having evidence is not sufficient to prevent accidentality about the truth from S s perspective about belief B. Bergmann describes the SPO as follows: 8 Bergmann Pg. 13 4

6 Gentry 6 SPO: If the subject holding a belief is not aware of what that belief has going for it, then she is not aware of how its status is any different from a stray hunch or arbitrary conviction. From that, we may conclude that from her perspective it is an accident that 9 her belief is true. And that implies that it is not a justified belief. Bergmann thinks that the difference between it being an accident from S s perspective and it not being an accident, makes a difference to the justification. So insofar as it is not an accident, S is justified. One might object: Bergmann, you're an externalist though, so if the SPO is a problem for the internalist, it s definitely a problem for you. I have sympathy for this objection and although I can t address it here, I will say that Bergmann ultimately thinks that the intuitions behind the SPO are too demanding and thus should be rejected. I disagree with him, but that discussion will take place elsewhere. Greco on the SPO John Greco, in his book Putting Skeptics in Their Place (2000), develops a view called agent reliabilism. As I understand it, Greco is walking a tightrope between externalism and internalism to appeal to the intuitions of both. Here, we will focus on his treatment of, what he calls, subjective justification because he develops this account following considerations from good ol Norman the clairvoyant. Let s get Greco s agent reliabilism out on paper before discussing subjective justification. Agent Reliabilism: S knows P only if: (i) P is true, (ii) S s believing P is the result of dispositions that S manifests when S is thinking conscientiously and (iii) such 10 dispositions make S reliable in the present conditions, with respect to P. 9 Bergmann Pg Greco pg.218 Italics mine.

7 Gentry 7 Notice first that this is a theory of knowledge, not justification; but no worries, because we ll see that the only condition that makes a difference as to whether S is justified or knows is clause (i). So Greco thinks that BonJour s Norman case has some real force behind it. He wants a theory of justification that accounts for the intuitions behind the case. He states: [e]vidential grounds in general, seem capable of generating knowledge only if the believer has some insight into the reliability of those grounds. The novice mathematician who does not see that her axioms entail her theorem does not 11 know the theorem on that account. It s clear that Greco is concerned about sensitivity to reliability and evidence here. And it seems that he takes the internalist intuition seriously, let s see how he accounts for it. convenience: Greco begins by laying out BonJour s Norman case. Let s have it in front of us again for Norman, under certain conditions that usually obtain, is a completely reliable clairvoyant with respect to certain kinds of subject matter. He possesses no evidence or reasons of any kind for or against the general possibility of a such a cognitive power, or for or against the thesis that he possesses it. One day Norman comes to believe that the president is in New York City, though he has no evidence either for or against this belief. In fact the belief is true and results from his clairvoyant power, under circumstances in 12 which it is completely reliable. 11 Greco Pg BonJour in Kornblith p.21

8 Gentry 8 Greco looks at three different ways of interpreting Norman. All three interpretations involve the notion of transparent knowledge, that is, no one knows unless he knows that he knows, or at 13 least can know that he knows. Let s look at each interpretation in some detail. (1) S knows P only if S knows that she knows P. Greco thinks this interpretation is completely misguided. Firstly, why think agent reliabilism precludes one from knowing that he knows? Presumably, he says, one can come to know that he knows in the same way that he comes to know anything else via reliable cognitive faculties. Secondly, this principle leads to vicious regress. If S, to know P, must know that he knows P, then he must know that he knows that he knows P, and so on. Why stop at second order knowledge? It seems that a view like (1) requires more besides. (2) S knows P only if S knows that P was reliably formed. Similar to Bergmann s dilemma, Greco thinks that this also leads to vicious regress. Imagine S knows P. Well for that to be true, S must also know that P was reliably formed, call this knowledge P1. But for S to know P1, he must know that P1 was reliably formed, call this P2. And the show goes on. (3) Transparency Principle (TP): for S to know P, S must know that the conditions of knowledge have been met. Greco shows that this principle is false and incoherent. Imagine S knows P. For that to be true, S must know that she has been met the sufficient conditions for knowledge: X,Y, and Z. But if TP is endorsed, then X, Y, and Z are not sufficient. Indeed, X, Y, Z, and TP would be sufficient. But then to know X, Y, Z and TP are met, S would have to know that X, Y, Z, and TP are met again and again, and again. This principle reeks of vicious regress. So what is right about Norman, according to Greco? He thinks that BonJour got right that we need sensitivity to our 13 Greco Pg.182

9 Gentry 9 own reliability. This is something that is lurking behind the three interpretations above as it is a weaker claim. Sensitivity to reliability is weaker than knowledge of one s reliability. Greco considers Sosa s view on Norman next. Ernest Sosa makes a distinction between animal and reflective knowledge. Reflective knowledge requires that S have a true grasp of the fact that one s belief is grounded in a reliable cognitive faculty. Ultimately, Sosa concedes that Norman has animal knowledge, but lacks reflective knowledge because he does not see himself as believing from a reliable faculty of clairvoyance. I think it is easy to see that what Sosa is getting at here is that a lack of sensitivity to reliability makes it the case that from S s own perspective, it is accident that the belief be true. But Sosa is not talking about internalist awareness requirements like we saw above. Indeed, it is unclear exactly what he has in mind, but Greco thinks it has something to do with perspectives as dispositional beliefs. However, in responding to an objection, Greco notices that Sosa switches from talking about dispositional beliefs to dispositions to believe. This is where Greco latches on. He thinks that we should think about sensitivity to reliability in terms of dispositions to believe. Greco thinks that it is psychologically implausible that we have the kind of perspectives Sosa has in mind (dispositional beliefs, especially those concerning the reliability of our faculties). Finally, we have come to Greco s conception of subjective justification: SJ: A belief P is subjectively justified for S iff S s believing P is grounded in the cognitive 14 dispositions that S manifests when thinking conscientiously. When Greco uses conscientiously, he means when S is trying to believe what is true, that is the kind of default mode humans are normally in. In this sense, his SJ is very similar to proper 15 functionalism. 14 Greco Pg Proper functionalism, at least in some cases, is the idea that properly functioning faculties are generally reliable. Likewise, thinking conscientiously, is supposed to imply reliability.

10 Gentry 10 So how does this account for Norman s case? Agent reliabilism states that: Agent Reliabilism: S knows P only if: (i) P is true, (ii) S s believing P is the result of dispositions that S manifests when S is thinking conscientiously and (iii) such 16 dispositions make S reliable in the present conditions, with respect to P. Is Norman justified? It s not clear. I take it Greco maintains that Norman is not thinking conscientiously. Or that Norman hasn t developed the sort of dispositions, Greco has in mind, while using his clairvoyance. But I m not sure that point matters; remember that the case stipulates that Norman is a completely reliable clairvoyant. And furthermore, that his belief was reliably formed. So it must be the case that, on Greco s view, Norman is not thinking conscientiously. While it s not clear whether that is true or not, I don t have the room to pursue it here. Steup on Bergmann s Weak Awareness Horn of the Internalist Dilemma Mattias Steup, in his essay Does Phenomenal Conservatism Solve Internalism s Dilemma?, takes on Bergmann s weak awareness horn of the dilemma by developing a weak internalism that he thinks will overcome the dilemma. Steup define s internalism as a constraint on the kinds of items that qualify as sources of justification. He thinks of constraints as reasons and thus comes to the following account of justification, we ll call it reasons internalism (RI): RI: believing P while having undefeated reason(s) for P is necessary and sufficient for being justified in believing P. Reasons can be a great many things, but Steup gives us a nice list of what he has in mind, namely, beliefs, rational intuitions, memory impressions, introspective states, and perceptual experiences. Steup is very explicit that these reasons are internalist notions. Hence, a belief s having its origin in an external condition e.g., reliable process, is not sufficient for justification. 16 Greco pg.218

11 Gentry 11 Let s turn back to Bergmann s construal of the weak awareness horn. Remember that Bergmann thinks of weak awareness as not requiring that S have a justified meta belief B1 to the extent that some source of justification X for belief B is in some way relevant to the appropriateness of holding B. Given this, he thinks that weak awareness falls victim to the SPO, which is the main motivator for requiring awareness, and by extension, the main motivator for internalism. Thus, we should not endorse internalism. Bergmann thinks of the SPO as follows: SPO: If the subject holding a belief is not aware of what that belief has going for it, then she is not aware of how its status is any different from a stray hunch or arbitrary conviction. From that, we may conclude that from her perspective it is an accident that 17 her belief is true. And that implies that it is not a justified belief. It is also important to remember that a theory that avoids the SPO is a theory that does not allow for accidentally true beliefs from the subject s own perspective. Thus, the condition that Steup s weak internalism places on a belief s justification S s having a reason for the belief is not sufficient to protect against the SPO. That is to say that S s true belief, regardless of S s reasons, is not enough to rule out non accidentality from S s subjective perspective. But Steup thinks that he can add some bells and whistles to his theory to account for this, without falling victim to either horn of the dilemma. Before I unpackage Steup s response, let s consider phenomenal conservatism briefly, as Steup uses the notion of seemings in his theory. It s important to get clear about what he means by this. Many philosophers who invoke seemings use the term in varying technical ways, but Steup is using it fairly generally. Phenomenal conservatism (PC) states that if it seems to S that P, then S is therby prima facie justified in believing that P. But seems here is really just appearances or looks. Steup thinks that whatever support a subject has for her beliefs arises 17 Bergmann Pg.12

12 Gentry from her seemings a subject s reasons = a subject s seemings. So this account varies minimally from RI. The only difference is the utilization of seemings instead of reasons, but as we just noted, under PC, a subject s seemings are the subject s reasons. It is also the case that PC does not require a justified meta belief of the sort: my seeming that P is a reason for believing P. So PC is a weak internalist theory. Indeed, PC stipulates that seemings are innocent until proven guilty, that is, we take their reliability for granted. Given this, Steup rejects PC and thinks it does happen to fall victim to Bergmann s dilemma. So what is Steup s position? Steup adds a memory condition to PC. He thinks that memory plays an important role to guard against non accidentality and moreover, attain sensitivity to reliability. Steup is thinking of memory of a subject s seemings in a kind of track record form. If S reflects, in the past, almost all my beliefs based on seemings of the relevant kind have been true, so probably, my current seeming that P of the corresponding kind is true. So Steup concludes that this reflective process supplies S with additional seemings (higher order) that justify the attribution of reliability to S s lower level seemings. It is hard to see how this is not a variant on strong awareness though. Steup thinks of the higher order seemings as memory data that do the justifying of the lower level seemings. But this just sounds like a round a bout way of talking about justified meta beliefs. It also leaves open the question of: does the memory data need to be justified? Afterall, the memory data are seemings of a higher order, so don t they need the justified attribution of reliability? I digress, for this is nearly what Steup anticipates. He imagines that Bergmann objects in the following way: either require that S conceive of the memory data as a justification contributor or don t, either way, the dilemma can be reapplied. Steup then replies by denying the second horn when the dilemma is reapplied. He claims that merely pointing to the track record memory 18 Steup in Tucker Pg.140

13 Gentry 13 data is sufficient to avoid non accidentality, and that is all that he needed to show. I find this answer very unsatisfying. It seems ad hoc first of all, but secondly, if the dilemma can be reapplied and when it is, Steup just denies the second horn of the dilemma, I wonder why he didn't just deny it from the get go. It seems to me that the memory data business did nothing more to countenance the intuitions behind the SPO than does PC by itself. If seemings, under PC, are innocent until proven guilty, and Steup rejects this, why think that higher order seemings (memory data) are innocent? Lyons and Basicality I will conclude this article with Jack Lyons dealings with Norman and Truetemp from his book, Perception and Basic Beliefs. Lyons conceives of the Norman and Truetemp cases to be suggesting a very different problem. He calls this problem the delineation problem and it thus: which beliefs are basic? That is, which beliefs do not depend upon other beliefs for their justification? In other words, what counts as a non inferential belief? So Lyons wants to argue that Norman type cases do not imply problems of grounds, but rather the delineation problem. To be sure, Norman type cases do not establish, what Lyons calls, the grounds principle (GP). 19 GP: all justified beliefs have grounds, that is, evidential justifiers. He wants to put forward a theory of justification that clearly defines which beliefs are basic and which are not and how each are justified. So Lyons endorses, what he calls, inferentialism reliabilism (IR). IR: (i) a basic belief is prima facie justified iff it is the result of a reliable cognitive process and (ii) a non basic belief is prima facie justified iff it is the result of a 19 Lyons Pg. 29

14 Gentry 14 reliable inferential process, the inputs of which are themselves (prima facie) 20 justified. Lyons takes Norman and Truetemp cases to be suggesting that they have basic beliefs, but the intuition is that neither of them are justified because they do not have evidence for their beliefs. Or, on some interpretations (Bergmann), they don t satisfy the awareness requirement. Lyons eschews these suggestions. He says, [i]t does not serve the more ambitious aims of 21 establishing the grounds principle and certainly not a general meta belief requirement. So Lyons IR overcomes the Norman and Truetemp cases by denying that their beliefs are basic. How? It seems that Lyons is just side stepping the issue here. And furthermore, how is it that they are not basic? Lyons endorses a perceptual system theory of perceptual belief (PST); that is, a belief is a perceptual belief iff it is the output of a perceptual system. But how is this supposed to help us? Norman has the cognitive power of clairvoyance and moreover, it is reliable. Clairvoyance, according to Lyons, has to be interpreted as perceptual. It certainly is not an intuition or memorial faculty. But what is a perceptual system? And if clairvoyance is supposed to be interpreted as perceptual, does it meet the conditions? Lyons gives four conditions for a perceptual, what he calls, primal system. Perceptual Primal System (PPS): (a) Its lowest level representational inputs are the results of energy transduction across sense organs, (b) None of the inputs to any of its subsystems are under the voluntary control of the larger organism, (c) It s inferentially opaque (i.e., its doxastic outputs are cognitively spontaneous in BonJour s [1985] sense), and 20 Pg Lyons Pg.114

15 Gentry 15 (d) The system has developed as the result of the interplay of learning and innate 22 constraints. Lyons endorses a modular theory of the brain (in the Fodorian sense), that is, specific parts of the brain are modules that perform certain functions independently. So I take it, that Lyons views a perceptual system as a module in the brain. So the first two conditions are supposed to stipulate that the perceptual system takes its inputs from the world and not from the individual organism. Condition (d) is meant to account for a faculty that comes into being overnight or some such case, it would not satisfy the etiological constraint. You can see from this that we need more information about Norman s clairvoyance: when did he come to have this faculty? If he has had it since he was born, then maybe he satisfies (d). It s not clear at all how he can satisfy (a). What kind(s) of energy are we even talking about in reference to clairvoyance? Lyons asks Was Norman born with some funnel shaped organ on his head that 23 collects C waves? Does he have some special brain structure that the rest of us lack?. While I think these are worthwhile questions to ask, the bottom line is that our intuitions become too hazy and filling in the blanks in various ways just seems ad hoc. Lyons wants to say that Norman and Trutemp s faculties do not satisfy the conditions for a perceptual system. So this means that if we are to interpret these cases as genuine cases of basic belief and the conditions that Lyons lays out for a perceptual system are true and finally, that perceptual systems, of the kind he has in mind, produce basic beliefs, then Norman and Truetemp s beliefs are non basic. Here is Lyons explicit account of basicality: 22 Pg Lyons Pg.118

16 Gentry 16 B: A belief B is basic for S at t iff B is the output at t of one of S s cognitive systems that (i) is inferentially opaque, (ii) has resulted from learning and innate constraints, and (ii) 24 does not base B on any doxastic outputs at t. The first two clauses we ve seen before in his conditions of a perceptual primal system. But what about (iii)? Well presumably doxastic grounds would preclude the belief B s being basic. It would preclude non inferential belief. Lyons sums up what I have stated thus far: The clairvoyance type cases that need to be taken most seriously all suppose that the agent has neither defeaters nor independent evidence for the belief in question but that the belief was reliably produced. In such conditions, a belief will be justified if and only if it is basic. I claim that a belief is basic only if it is the non inferential output of a primal system. Norman s clairvoyance belief...is intuitively not the result of a system that satisfies the etiological constraint on primal systems. Truetemp s belief is, ex hypothesi, not the result of such a system. Though the relevant systems are non inferential, they 25 are not primal, and this is why their outputs are non basic. Concluding Remarks This article aimed to compile some (definitely not all) of the iterations on Norman and Truetemp cases. We found many interpretations overlapped and a few that deviated. Bergmann interpreted the cases to suggest an awareness requirement on justification and used that to push one horn of a dilemma against internalist views. We saw that Steup tried to respond to this dilemma and it s not clear that he succeeded. We saw that Greco took the idea of subjective justification and used that to synthesize an externalist and internalist position, agent reliabilism. We also saw the cases that started it all, Norman and Truetemp. And finally, we saw a very different approach to the cases by Lyons who dazzled us with his cognitive scientific 24 Pg Lyons Pg.144

17 Gentry 17 epistemology that allegedly solves the delineation problem, which he thinks is at the heart of Norman and Truetemp. Works Cited Bergmann, Michael. Justification without Awareness: A Defense of Epistemic Externalism.

18 Gentry 18 Oxford: Clarendon, BonJour, Laurence. "Externalist Theories of Empirical Knowledge." Epistemology: Internalism and Externalism. By Hilary Kornblith. Malden, MA: Blackwell, Goldman, Alvin I. "Commentary on Jack Lyons s Perception and Basic Beliefs." Philosophical Studies (2010): Greco, John. Putting Skeptics in Their Place: The Nature of Skeptical Arguments and Their Role in Philosophical Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, Lehrer, Keith. Theory of Knowledge. Boulder: Westview, Lyons, Jack C. Perception and Basic Beliefs: Zombies, Modules, and the Problem of the External World. Oxford: Oxford UP, Steup, Mattias. "Can Phenomenal Conservatism Solve Internalism's Dilemma?" in Seemings and Justification: New Essays on Dogmatism and Phenomenal Conservatism. By Chris Tucker, 2013.

Belief Ownership without Authorship: Agent Reliabilism s Unlucky Gambit against Reflective Luck Benjamin Bayer September 1 st, 2014

Belief Ownership without Authorship: Agent Reliabilism s Unlucky Gambit against Reflective Luck Benjamin Bayer September 1 st, 2014 Belief Ownership without Authorship: Agent Reliabilism s Unlucky Gambit against Reflective Luck Benjamin Bayer September 1 st, 2014 Abstract: This paper examines a persuasive attempt to defend reliabilist

More information

Skepticism and Internalism

Skepticism and Internalism Skepticism and Internalism John Greco Abstract: This paper explores a familiar skeptical problematic and considers some strategies for responding to it. Section 1 reconstructs and disambiguates the skeptical

More information

Phenomenal Conservatism and the Internalist Intuition

Phenomenal Conservatism and the Internalist Intuition [Published in American Philosophical Quarterly 43 (2006): 147-58. Official version: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20010233.] Phenomenal Conservatism and the Internalist Intuition ABSTRACT: Externalist theories

More information

INFERENTIALIST RELIABILISM AND PROPER FUNCTIONALISM: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AS DEFENSES OF EXTERNALISM AMY THERESA VIVIANO

INFERENTIALIST RELIABILISM AND PROPER FUNCTIONALISM: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AS DEFENSES OF EXTERNALISM AMY THERESA VIVIANO INFERENTIALIST RELIABILISM AND PROPER FUNCTIONALISM: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AS DEFENSES OF EXTERNALISM by AMY THERESA VIVIANO A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE

More information

Phenomenal Conservatism and the Demand for Metajustification *

Phenomenal Conservatism and the Demand for Metajustification * Phenomenal Conservatism and the Demand for Metajustification * Rogel E. Oliveira Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) School of Humanities Graduate Program in Philosophy Porto Alegre,

More information

PHL340 Handout 8: Evaluating Dogmatism

PHL340 Handout 8: Evaluating Dogmatism PHL340 Handout 8: Evaluating Dogmatism 1 Dogmatism Last class we looked at Jim Pryor s paper on dogmatism about perceptual justification (for background on the notion of justification, see the handout

More information

Reliabilism and the Problem of Defeaters

Reliabilism and the Problem of Defeaters Reliabilism and the Problem of Defeaters Prof. Dr. Thomas Grundmann Philosophisches Seminar Universität zu Köln Albertus Magnus Platz 50923 Köln E-mail: thomas.grundmann@uni-koeln.de 4.454 words Reliabilism

More information

Philosophy 5340 Epistemology. Topic 6: Theories of Justification: Foundationalism versus Coherentism. Part 2: Susan Haack s Foundherentist Approach

Philosophy 5340 Epistemology. Topic 6: Theories of Justification: Foundationalism versus Coherentism. Part 2: Susan Haack s Foundherentist Approach Philosophy 5340 Epistemology Topic 6: Theories of Justification: Foundationalism versus Coherentism Part 2: Susan Haack s Foundherentist Approach Susan Haack, "A Foundherentist Theory of Empirical Justification"

More information

Basic Knowledge and the Problem of Easy Knowledge (Rough Draft-notes incomplete not for quotation) Stewart Cohen

Basic Knowledge and the Problem of Easy Knowledge (Rough Draft-notes incomplete not for quotation) Stewart Cohen Basic Knowledge and the Problem of Easy Knowledge (Rough Draft-notes incomplete not for quotation) Stewart Cohen I It is a truism that we acquire knowledge of the world through belief sources like sense

More information

Testimony and Moral Understanding Anthony T. Flood, Ph.D. Introduction

Testimony and Moral Understanding Anthony T. Flood, Ph.D. Introduction 24 Testimony and Moral Understanding Anthony T. Flood, Ph.D. Abstract: In this paper, I address Linda Zagzebski s analysis of the relation between moral testimony and understanding arguing that Aquinas

More information

McDowell and the New Evil Genius

McDowell and the New Evil Genius 1 McDowell and the New Evil Genius Ram Neta and Duncan Pritchard 0. Many epistemologists both internalists and externalists regard the New Evil Genius Problem (Lehrer & Cohen 1983) as constituting an important

More information

New Lessons from Old Demons: The Case for Reliabilism

New Lessons from Old Demons: The Case for Reliabilism New Lessons from Old Demons: The Case for Reliabilism Thomas Grundmann Our basic view of the world is well-supported. We do not simply happen to have this view but are also equipped with what seem to us

More information

Can A Priori Justified Belief Be Extended Through Deduction? It is often assumed that if one deduces some proposition p from some premises

Can A Priori Justified Belief Be Extended Through Deduction? It is often assumed that if one deduces some proposition p from some premises Can A Priori Justified Belief Be Extended Through Deduction? Introduction It is often assumed that if one deduces some proposition p from some premises which one knows a priori, in a series of individually

More information

What Should We Believe?

What Should We Believe? 1 What Should We Believe? Thomas Kelly, University of Notre Dame James Pryor, Princeton University Blackwell Publishers Consider the following question: What should I believe? This question is a normative

More information

Is Klein an infinitist about doxastic justification?

Is Klein an infinitist about doxastic justification? Philos Stud (2007) 134:19 24 DOI 10.1007/s11098-006-9016-5 ORIGINAL PAPER Is Klein an infinitist about doxastic justification? Michael Bergmann Published online: 7 March 2007 Ó Springer Science+Business

More information

ABSTRACT: In this paper, I argue that Phenomenal Conservatism (PC) is not superior to

ABSTRACT: In this paper, I argue that Phenomenal Conservatism (PC) is not superior to Phenomenal Conservatism, Justification, and Self-defeat Moti Mizrahi Forthcoming in Logos & Episteme ABSTRACT: In this paper, I argue that Phenomenal Conservatism (PC) is not superior to alternative theories

More information

4AANB007 - Epistemology I Syllabus Academic year 2014/15

4AANB007 - Epistemology I Syllabus Academic year 2014/15 School of Arts & Humanities Department of Philosophy 4AANB007 - Epistemology I Syllabus Academic year 2014/15 Basic information Credits: 15 Module Tutor: Clayton Littlejohn Office: Philosophy Building

More information

PHENOMENAL CONSERVATISM, JUSTIFICATION, AND SELF-DEFEAT

PHENOMENAL CONSERVATISM, JUSTIFICATION, AND SELF-DEFEAT PHENOMENAL CONSERVATISM, JUSTIFICATION, AND SELF-DEFEAT Moti MIZRAHI ABSTRACT: In this paper, I argue that Phenomenal Conservatism (PC) is not superior to alternative theories of basic propositional justification

More information

CURRICULUM VITAE STEPHEN JACOBSON. (Title: What's Wrong With Reliability Theories of Justification?)

CURRICULUM VITAE STEPHEN JACOBSON. (Title: What's Wrong With Reliability Theories of Justification?) CURRICULUM VITAE STEPHEN JACOBSON Senior Lecturer Department of Philosophy Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Phone (404) 413-6100 (work) E-mail sjacobson@gsu.edu EDUCATION University of Michigan,

More information

I guess I m just a good-old-fashioned internalist. A prominent position in philosophy of religion today is that religious experience can

I guess I m just a good-old-fashioned internalist. A prominent position in philosophy of religion today is that religious experience can Internalism and Properly Basic Belief Matthew Davidson (CSUSB) and Gordon Barnes (SUNY Brockport) mld@csusb.edu gbarnes@brockport.edu In this paper we set out and defend a view on which properly basic

More information

Theories of epistemic justification can be divided into two groups: internalist and

Theories of epistemic justification can be divided into two groups: internalist and 1 Internalism and externalism about justification Theories of epistemic justification can be divided into two groups: internalist and externalist. Internalist theories of justification say that whatever

More information

Sosa on Human and Animal Knowledge

Sosa on Human and Animal Knowledge Ernest Sosa: And His Critics Edited by John Greco Copyright 2004 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd 126 HILARY KORNBLITH 11 Sosa on Human and Animal Knowledge HILARY KORNBLITH Intuitively, it seems that both

More information

Knowledge and its Limits, by Timothy Williamson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Pp. xi

Knowledge and its Limits, by Timothy Williamson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Pp. xi 1 Knowledge and its Limits, by Timothy Williamson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Pp. xi + 332. Review by Richard Foley Knowledge and Its Limits is a magnificent book that is certain to be influential

More information

The Oxford Handbook of Epistemology

The Oxford Handbook of Epistemology Oxford Scholarship Online You are looking at 1-10 of 21 items for: booktitle : handbook phimet The Oxford Handbook of Epistemology Paul K. Moser (ed.) Item type: book DOI: 10.1093/0195130057.001.0001 This

More information

Reason and Explanation: A Defense of Explanatory Coherentism. BY TED POSTON (Basingstoke,

Reason and Explanation: A Defense of Explanatory Coherentism. BY TED POSTON (Basingstoke, Reason and Explanation: A Defense of Explanatory Coherentism. BY TED POSTON (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Pp. 208. Price 60.) In this interesting book, Ted Poston delivers an original and

More information

Knowledge and Reliability

Knowledge and Reliability Jennifer Nagel, University of Toronto March 5, 2012 Forthcoming in: Alvin Goldman and his Critics, Hilary Kornblith and Brian McLaughlin, eds.; Blackwell. Knowledge and Reliability Great theories can have

More information

ALTERNATIVE SELF-DEFEAT ARGUMENTS: A REPLY TO MIZRAHI

ALTERNATIVE SELF-DEFEAT ARGUMENTS: A REPLY TO MIZRAHI ALTERNATIVE SELF-DEFEAT ARGUMENTS: A REPLY TO MIZRAHI Michael HUEMER ABSTRACT: I address Moti Mizrahi s objections to my use of the Self-Defeat Argument for Phenomenal Conservatism (PC). Mizrahi contends

More information

INTUITION AND CONSCIOUS REASONING

INTUITION AND CONSCIOUS REASONING The Philosophical Quarterly Vol. 63, No. 253 October 2013 ISSN 0031-8094 doi: 10.1111/1467-9213.12071 INTUITION AND CONSCIOUS REASONING BY OLE KOKSVIK This paper argues that, contrary to common opinion,

More information

KNOWLEDGE ON AFFECTIVE TRUST. Arnon Keren

KNOWLEDGE ON AFFECTIVE TRUST. Arnon Keren Abstracta SPECIAL ISSUE VI, pp. 33 46, 2012 KNOWLEDGE ON AFFECTIVE TRUST Arnon Keren Epistemologists of testimony widely agree on the fact that our reliance on other people's testimony is extensive. However,

More information

5AANA009 Epistemology II 2014 to 2015

5AANA009 Epistemology II 2014 to 2015 5AANA009 Epistemology II 2014 to 2015 Credit value: 15 Module tutor (2014-2015): Dr David Galloway Assessment Office: PB 803 Office hours: Wednesday 3 to 5pm Contact: david.galloway@kcl.ac.uk Summative

More information

Deontological Perspectivism: A Reply to Lockie Hamid Vahid, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran

Deontological Perspectivism: A Reply to Lockie Hamid Vahid, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran Deontological Perspectivism: A Reply to Lockie Hamid Vahid, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran Abstract In his (2015) paper, Robert Lockie seeks to add a contextualized, relativist

More information

Pollock and Sturgeon on defeaters

Pollock and Sturgeon on defeaters University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Faculty Publications - Department of Philosophy Philosophy, Department of 2018 Pollock and Sturgeon on defeaters Albert

More information

CRUCIAL TOPICS IN THE DEBATE ABOUT THE EXISTENCE OF EXTERNAL REASONS

CRUCIAL TOPICS IN THE DEBATE ABOUT THE EXISTENCE OF EXTERNAL REASONS CRUCIAL TOPICS IN THE DEBATE ABOUT THE EXISTENCE OF EXTERNAL REASONS By MARANATHA JOY HAYES A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

More information

What is knowledge? How do good beliefs get made?

What is knowledge? How do good beliefs get made? What is knowledge? How do good beliefs get made? We are users of our cognitive systems Our cognitive (belief-producing) systems (e.g. perception, memory and inference) largely run automatically. We find

More information

Quine s Naturalized Epistemology, Epistemic Normativity and the. Gettier Problem

Quine s Naturalized Epistemology, Epistemic Normativity and the. Gettier Problem Quine s Naturalized Epistemology, Epistemic Normativity and the Gettier Problem Dr. Qilin Li (liqilin@gmail.com; liqilin@pku.edu.cn) The Department of Philosophy, Peking University Beiijing, P. R. China

More information

Utilitarianism: For and Against (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973), pp Reprinted in Moral Luck (CUP, 1981).

Utilitarianism: For and Against (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973), pp Reprinted in Moral Luck (CUP, 1981). Draft of 3-21- 13 PHIL 202: Core Ethics; Winter 2013 Core Sequence in the History of Ethics, 2011-2013 IV: 19 th and 20 th Century Moral Philosophy David O. Brink Handout #14: Williams, Internalism, and

More information

ACQUAINTANCE AND THE PROBLEM OF THE SPECKLED HEN

ACQUAINTANCE AND THE PROBLEM OF THE SPECKLED HEN Philosophical Studies (2007) 132:331 346 Ó Springer 2006 DOI 10.1007/s11098-005-2221-9 ACQUAINTANCE AND THE PROBLEM OF THE SPECKLED HEN ABSTRACT. This paper responds to Ernest Sosa s recent criticism of

More information

PL 399: Knowledge, Truth, and Skepticism Spring, 2011, Juniata College

PL 399: Knowledge, Truth, and Skepticism Spring, 2011, Juniata College PL 399: Knowledge, Truth, and Skepticism Spring, 2011, Juniata College Instructor: Dr. Xinli Wang, Philosophy Department, Goodhall 414, x-3642, wang@juniata.edu Office Hours: MWF 10-11 am, and TuTh 9:30-10:30

More information

In Epistemic Relativism, Mark Kalderon defends a view that has become

In Epistemic Relativism, Mark Kalderon defends a view that has become Aporia vol. 24 no. 1 2014 Incoherence in Epistemic Relativism I. Introduction In Epistemic Relativism, Mark Kalderon defends a view that has become increasingly popular across various academic disciplines.

More information

INTRODUCTION. This week: Moore's response, Nozick's response, Reliablism's response, Externalism v. Internalism.

INTRODUCTION. This week: Moore's response, Nozick's response, Reliablism's response, Externalism v. Internalism. GENERAL PHILOSOPHY WEEK 2: KNOWLEDGE JONNY MCINTOSH INTRODUCTION Sceptical scenario arguments: 1. You cannot know that SCENARIO doesn't obtain. 2. If you cannot know that SCENARIO doesn't obtain, you cannot

More information

Lost in Transmission: Testimonial Justification and Practical Reason

Lost in Transmission: Testimonial Justification and Practical Reason Lost in Transmission: Testimonial Justification and Practical Reason Andrew Peet and Eli Pitcovski Abstract Transmission views of testimony hold that the epistemic state of a speaker can, in some robust

More information

Received: 30 August 2007 / Accepted: 16 November 2007 / Published online: 28 December 2007 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V.

Received: 30 August 2007 / Accepted: 16 November 2007 / Published online: 28 December 2007 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. Acta anal. (2007) 22:267 279 DOI 10.1007/s12136-007-0012-y What Is Entitlement? Albert Casullo Received: 30 August 2007 / Accepted: 16 November 2007 / Published online: 28 December 2007 # Springer Science

More information

Internalism v.s. Externalism in the Epistemology of Memory B.J.C. Madison. (Forthcoming in The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Memory,

Internalism v.s. Externalism in the Epistemology of Memory B.J.C. Madison. (Forthcoming in The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Memory, Internalism v.s. Externalism in the Epistemology of Memory B.J.C. Madison (Forthcoming in The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Memory, eds. Sven Bernecker and Kourken Michaelin) Draft Version Do Not

More information

EpistemicJustification without Virtue: An Intermittent Rainman Dilemma for Ernest Sosa's Virtue Condition

EpistemicJustification without Virtue: An Intermittent Rainman Dilemma for Ernest Sosa's Virtue Condition EpistemicJustification without Virtue: An Intermittent Rainman Dilemma for Ernest Sosa's Virtue Condition Eric Roark University of Missouri-Columbia Abstract: This paper attempts, via proposing a dilemma,

More information

Is there a distinction between a priori and a posteriori

Is there a distinction between a priori and a posteriori Lingnan University Digital Commons @ Lingnan University Theses & Dissertations Department of Philosophy 2014 Is there a distinction between a priori and a posteriori Hiu Man CHAN Follow this and additional

More information

Phil Notes #9: The Infinite Regress Problem

Phil Notes #9: The Infinite Regress Problem Phil. 3340 Notes #9: The Infinite Regress Problem I. The Infinite Regress Problem: Introduction Basic Ideas: Sometimes we believe things for reasons. This is one (alleged) way a belief can be justified.

More information

Internalism and Properly Basic Belief. Matthew Davidson, CSUSB Gordon Barnes, SUNY-Brockport

Internalism and Properly Basic Belief. Matthew Davidson, CSUSB Gordon Barnes, SUNY-Brockport 1 Internalism and Properly Basic Belief Matthew Davidson, CSUSB (md@fastmail.net) Gordon Barnes, SUNY-Brockport (gbarnes@brockport.edu) To appear in: Philosophy and the Christian Worldview : Analysis,

More information

Achieving epistemic descent

Achieving epistemic descent University of Iowa Iowa Research Online Theses and Dissertations Summer 2012 Achieving epistemic descent Brett Andrew Coppenger University of Iowa Copyright 2012 Brett Andrew Coppenger This dissertation

More information

Rationalism of a moderate variety has recently enjoyed the renewed interest of

Rationalism of a moderate variety has recently enjoyed the renewed interest of EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FOR RATIONALISM? [PENULTIMATE DRAFT] Joel Pust University of Delaware 1. Introduction Rationalism of a moderate variety has recently enjoyed the renewed interest of epistemologists.

More information

Is There Immediate Justification?

Is There Immediate Justification? Is There Immediate Justification? I. James Pryor (and Goldman): Yes A. Justification i. I say that you have justification to believe P iff you are in a position where it would be epistemically appropriate

More information

The Opacity of Knowledge

The Opacity of Knowledge Essays in Philosophy Volume 2 Issue 1 The Internalism/Externalism Debate in Epistemology Article 1 1-2001 The Opacity of Knowledge Duncan Pritchard University of Stirling Follow this and additional works

More information

Let s Bite the Bullet on Deontological Epistemic Justification: A Response to Robert Lockie 1 Rik Peels, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Let s Bite the Bullet on Deontological Epistemic Justification: A Response to Robert Lockie 1 Rik Peels, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Let s Bite the Bullet on Deontological Epistemic Justification: A Response to Robert Lockie 1 Rik Peels, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Abstract In his paper, Robert Lockie points out that adherents of the

More information

Virtue reliabilism is a theory of justification: it purports to give the

Virtue reliabilism is a theory of justification: it purports to give the Aporia vol. 22 no. 2 2012 A Defense of Virtue Reliabilism Virtue reliabilism is a theory of justification: it purports to give the conditions under which a person, S, is epistemically justified in believing

More information

Knowledge and its Limits, by Timothy Williamson. Oxford: Oxford University

Knowledge and its Limits, by Timothy Williamson. Oxford: Oxford University 718 Book Reviews public (p. vii) and one presumably to a more scholarly audience. This history appears to be reflected in the wide variation, in different parts of the volume, in the amount of ground covered,

More information

Against Coherence: Truth, Probability, and Justification. Erik J. Olsson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Pp. xiii, 232.

Against Coherence: Truth, Probability, and Justification. Erik J. Olsson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Pp. xiii, 232. Against Coherence: Page 1 To appear in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research Against Coherence: Truth, Probability, and Justification. Erik J. Olsson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Pp. xiii,

More information

Epistemic Virtues and their Limits

Epistemic Virtues and their Limits Carlos Augusto Sartori UFSM I. Virtue Epistemology proposes to shift the focus of justification from the properties of beliefs to the believer himself. Sosa has developed a perspectivist virtue theory

More information

I regard reliabilism as one of the major achievements of twentieth century

I regard reliabilism as one of the major achievements of twentieth century Goldman on Evidence and Reliability Jack C. Lyons University of Arkansas I regard reliabilism as one of the major achievements of twentieth century philosophy and Alvin Goldman as one of the chief architects

More information

Boghossian & Harman on the analytic theory of the a priori

Boghossian & Harman on the analytic theory of the a priori Boghossian & Harman on the analytic theory of the a priori PHIL 83104 November 2, 2011 Both Boghossian and Harman address themselves to the question of whether our a priori knowledge can be explained in

More information

Williamson, Knowledge and its Limits Seminar Fall 2006 Sherri Roush Chapter 8 Skepticism

Williamson, Knowledge and its Limits Seminar Fall 2006 Sherri Roush Chapter 8 Skepticism Chapter 8 Skepticism Williamson is diagnosing skepticism as a consequence of assuming too much knowledge of our mental states. The way this assumption is supposed to make trouble on this topic is that

More information

SCHAFFER S DEMON NATHAN BALLANTYNE AND IAN EVANS

SCHAFFER S DEMON NATHAN BALLANTYNE AND IAN EVANS SCHAFFER S DEMON by NATHAN BALLANTYNE AND IAN EVANS Abstract: Jonathan Schaffer (2010) has summoned a new sort of demon which he calls the debasing demon that apparently threatens all of our purported

More information

In Defense of Radical Empiricism. Joseph Benjamin Riegel. Chapel Hill 2006

In Defense of Radical Empiricism. Joseph Benjamin Riegel. Chapel Hill 2006 In Defense of Radical Empiricism Joseph Benjamin Riegel A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

More information

Acquaintance and assurance

Acquaintance and assurance Philos Stud DOI 10.1007/s11098-011-9747-9 Acquaintance and assurance Nathan Ballantyne Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract I criticize Richard Fumerton s fallibilist acquaintance theory

More information

Foundations and Coherence Michael Huemer

Foundations and Coherence Michael Huemer Foundations and Coherence Michael Huemer 1. The Epistemic Regress Problem Suppose I believe that P, and I am asked why I believe it. I might respond by citing a reason, Q, for believing P. I could then

More information

EVERYBODY NEEDS TO KNOW?

EVERYBODY NEEDS TO KNOW? EVERYBODY NEEDS TO KNOW? This reader came away from Sosa s Judgment and Agency with the poignant impression of an otherwise sophisticated and compelling view encumbered by an implausible central element.

More information

Against Phenomenal Conservatism

Against Phenomenal Conservatism Acta Anal DOI 10.1007/s12136-010-0111-z Against Phenomenal Conservatism Nathan Hanna Received: 11 March 2010 / Accepted: 24 September 2010 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 Abstract Recently,

More information

Evidentialist Reliabilism

Evidentialist Reliabilism NOÛS 44:4 (2010) 571 600 Evidentialist Reliabilism JUAN COMESAÑA University of Arizona comesana@email.arizona.edu 1Introduction In this paper I present and defend a theory of epistemic justification that

More information

CAN EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE HAVE A FOUNDATION?

CAN EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE HAVE A FOUNDATION? CAN EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE HAVE A FOUNDATION? Laurence Bonjour Introduction, Andrew Latus IN THIS ARTICLE, LAURENCE BONJOUR attempts to convince us that foundationalism ought to be abandoned. He does so by

More information

Contemporary Epistemology

Contemporary Epistemology Contemporary Epistemology Philosophy 331, Spring 2009 Wednesday 1:10pm-3:50pm Jenness House Seminar Room Joe Cruz, Associate Professor of Philosophy Epistemology is one of the core areas of philosophical

More information

McCLOSKEY ON RATIONAL ENDS: The Dilemma of Intuitionism

McCLOSKEY ON RATIONAL ENDS: The Dilemma of Intuitionism 48 McCLOSKEY ON RATIONAL ENDS: The Dilemma of Intuitionism T om R egan In his book, Meta-Ethics and Normative Ethics,* Professor H. J. McCloskey sets forth an argument which he thinks shows that we know,

More information

Phenomenal Conservatism and Skeptical Theism

Phenomenal Conservatism and Skeptical Theism Phenomenal Conservatism and Skeptical Theism Jonathan D. Matheson 1. Introduction Recently there has been a good deal of interest in the relationship between common sense epistemology and Skeptical Theism.

More information

Beyond Virtue Epistemology 1

Beyond Virtue Epistemology 1 Beyond Virtue Epistemology 1 Waldomiro Silva Filho UFBA, CNPq 1. The works of Ernest Sosa claims to provide original and thought-provoking contributions to contemporary epistemology in setting a new direction

More information

In essence, Swinburne's argument is as follows:

In essence, Swinburne's argument is as follows: 9 [nt J Phil Re115:49-56 (1984). Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague. Printed in the Netherlands. NATURAL EVIL AND THE FREE WILL DEFENSE PAUL K. MOSER Loyola University of Chicago Recently Richard Swinburne

More information

Is Truth the Primary Epistemic Goal? Joseph Barnes

Is Truth the Primary Epistemic Goal? Joseph Barnes Is Truth the Primary Epistemic Goal? Joseph Barnes I. Motivation: what hangs on this question? II. How Primary? III. Kvanvig's argument that truth isn't the primary epistemic goal IV. David's argument

More information

KNOWLEDGE AND REASON

KNOWLEDGE AND REASON 1 KNOWLEDGE AND REASON Pascal Engel University of Geneva 39169 s 1. Internalist and externalist conceptions of knowledge and reason As John Skorupski (2010) says, Perhaps the most pervasive conviction

More information

THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARGUMENT AGAINST MATERIALISM AND ITS SEMANTIC PREMISE

THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARGUMENT AGAINST MATERIALISM AND ITS SEMANTIC PREMISE Diametros nr 29 (wrzesień 2011): 80-92 THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARGUMENT AGAINST MATERIALISM AND ITS SEMANTIC PREMISE Karol Polcyn 1. PRELIMINARIES Chalmers articulates his argument in terms of two-dimensional

More information

Phenomenal Conservatism 1 LUCA MORETTI

Phenomenal Conservatism 1 LUCA MORETTI Phenomenal Conservatism 1 LUCA MORETTI 1. Phenomenal conservatism: the basics 2 Phenomenal conservatism is the view according to which, roughly, the way things seem or appear to be is a source of epistemic

More information

Goldman on Knowledge as True Belief. Alvin Goldman (2002a, 183) distinguishes the following four putative uses or senses of

Goldman on Knowledge as True Belief. Alvin Goldman (2002a, 183) distinguishes the following four putative uses or senses of Goldman on Knowledge as True Belief Alvin Goldman (2002a, 183) distinguishes the following four putative uses or senses of knowledge : (1) Knowledge = belief (2) Knowledge = institutionalized belief (3)

More information

Citation for the original published paper (version of record):

Citation for the original published paper (version of record): http://www.diva-portal.org Postprint This is the accepted version of a paper published in Episteme: A journal of individual and social epistemology. This paper has been peer-reviewed but does not include

More information

Epistemic Circularity and Common Sense: A Reply to Reed

Epistemic Circularity and Common Sense: A Reply to Reed Philosophy and Phenomenological Research Vol. LXXIII, No. 1, July 2006 Epistemic Circularity and Common Sense: A Reply to Reed MICHAEL BERGMANN Purdue University When one depends on a belief source in

More information

JUSTIFICATION INTRODUCTION

JUSTIFICATION INTRODUCTION RODERICK M. CHISHOLM THE INDISPENSABILITY JUSTIFICATION OF INTERNAL All knowledge is knowledge of someone; and ultimately no one can have any ground for his beliefs which does hot lie within his own experience.

More information

Epistemology for Naturalists and Non-Naturalists: What s the Difference?

Epistemology for Naturalists and Non-Naturalists: What s the Difference? Res Cogitans Volume 3 Issue 1 Article 3 6-7-2012 Epistemology for Naturalists and Non-Naturalists: What s the Difference? Jason Poettcker University of Victoria Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.pacificu.edu/rescogitans

More information

The Gettier problem JTB K

The Gettier problem JTB K The Gettier problem JTB K Classical (JTB) analysis of knowledge S knows that p if and only if (i) p is true; (ii) S believes that p; (iii) S is justified in believing that p. Enter Gettier Gettier cases

More information

Conference on the Epistemology of Keith Lehrer, PUCRS, Porto Alegre (Brazil), June

Conference on the Epistemology of Keith Lehrer, PUCRS, Porto Alegre (Brazil), June 2 Reply to Comesaña* Réplica a Comesaña Carl Ginet** 1. In the Sentence-Relativity section of his comments, Comesaña discusses my attempt (in the Relativity to Sentences section of my paper) to convince

More information

BELIEF POLICIES, by Paul Helm. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Pp. xiii and 226. $54.95 (Cloth).

BELIEF POLICIES, by Paul Helm. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Pp. xiii and 226. $54.95 (Cloth). BELIEF POLICIES, by Paul Helm. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Pp. xiii and 226. $54.95 (Cloth). TRENTON MERRICKS, Virginia Commonwealth University Faith and Philosophy 13 (1996): 449-454

More information

Varieties of Apriority

Varieties of Apriority S E V E N T H E X C U R S U S Varieties of Apriority T he notions of a priori knowledge and justification play a central role in this work. There are many ways in which one can understand the a priori,

More information

Reliabilism: Holistic or Simple?

Reliabilism: Holistic or Simple? Reliabilism: Holistic or Simple? Jeff Dunn jeffreydunn@depauw.edu 1 Introduction A standard statement of Reliabilism about justification goes something like this: Simple (Process) Reliabilism: S s believing

More information

Reliabilism and intellectual virtue

Reliabilism and intellectual virtue 8 Reliabilism and intellectual virtue Externalism and reliabilism go back at least to the writings of Frank Ramsey early in this century. 1 The generic view has been developed in diverse ways by David

More information

Huemer s Problem of Memory Knowledge

Huemer s Problem of Memory Knowledge Huemer s Problem of Memory Knowledge ABSTRACT: When S seems to remember that P, what kind of justification does S have for believing that P? In "The Problem of Memory Knowledge." Michael Huemer offers

More information

Luck, Rationality, and Explanation: A Reply to Elga s Lucky to Be Rational. Joshua Schechter. Brown University

Luck, Rationality, and Explanation: A Reply to Elga s Lucky to Be Rational. Joshua Schechter. Brown University Luck, Rationality, and Explanation: A Reply to Elga s Lucky to Be Rational Joshua Schechter Brown University I Introduction What is the epistemic significance of discovering that one of your beliefs depends

More information

FOUNDATIONALISM AND ARBITRARINESS

FOUNDATIONALISM AND ARBITRARINESS FOUNDATIONALISM AND ARBITRARINESS by DANIEL HOWARD-SNYDER Abstract: Nonskeptical foundationalists say that there are basic beliefs. But, one might object, either there is a reason why basic beliefs are

More information

Epistemic Value and the New Evil Demon. B.J.C. Madison. (Forthcoming in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly) Draft Version Do Not Cite Without Approval

Epistemic Value and the New Evil Demon. B.J.C. Madison. (Forthcoming in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly) Draft Version Do Not Cite Without Approval Epistemic Value and the New Evil Demon B.J.C. Madison (Forthcoming in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly) Draft Version Do Not Cite Without Approval Abstract: In this paper I argue that the value of epistemic

More information

PHIL 3140: Epistemology

PHIL 3140: Epistemology PHIL 3140: Epistemology 0.5 credit. Fundamental issues concerning the relation between evidence, rationality, and knowledge. Topics may include: skepticism, the nature of belief, the structure of justification,

More information

PHIL-210: Knowledge and Certainty

PHIL-210: Knowledge and Certainty PHIL-210: Knowledge and Certainty November 1, 2014 Instructor Carlotta Pavese, PhD Teaching Assistant Hannah Bondurant Main Lecture Time T/Th 1:25-2:40 Main Lecture Location East Campus, in Friedl room

More information

STEWART COHEN AND THE CONTEXTUALIST THEORY OF JUSTIFICATION

STEWART COHEN AND THE CONTEXTUALIST THEORY OF JUSTIFICATION FILOZOFIA Roč. 66, 2011, č. 4 STEWART COHEN AND THE CONTEXTUALIST THEORY OF JUSTIFICATION AHMAD REZA HEMMATI MOGHADDAM, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), School of Analytic Philosophy,

More information

World without Design: The Ontological Consequences of Natural- ism , by Michael C. Rea.

World without Design: The Ontological Consequences of Natural- ism , by Michael C. Rea. Book reviews World without Design: The Ontological Consequences of Naturalism, by Michael C. Rea. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2004, viii + 245 pp., $24.95. This is a splendid book. Its ideas are bold and

More information

The Gettier problem JTB K

The Gettier problem JTB K The Gettier problem JTB K Classical (JTB) analysis of knowledge S knows that p if and only if (i) p is true; (ii) S believes that p; (iii) S is justified in believing that p. Enter Gettier Gettier cases

More information

Higher-Order Epistemic Attitudes and Intellectual Humility. Allan Hazlett. Forthcoming in Episteme

Higher-Order Epistemic Attitudes and Intellectual Humility. Allan Hazlett. Forthcoming in Episteme Higher-Order Epistemic Attitudes and Intellectual Humility Allan Hazlett Forthcoming in Episteme Recent discussions of the epistemology of disagreement (Kelly 2005, Feldman 2006, Elga 2007, Christensen

More information

Interest-Relativity and Testimony Jeremy Fantl, University of Calgary

Interest-Relativity and Testimony Jeremy Fantl, University of Calgary Interest-Relativity and Testimony Jeremy Fantl, University of Calgary In her Testimony and Epistemic Risk: The Dependence Account, Karyn Freedman defends an interest-relative account of justified belief

More information

IN SEARCH OF DIRECT REALISM

IN SEARCH OF DIRECT REALISM IN SEARCH OF DIRECT REALISM Laurence BonJour University of Washington It is fairly standard in accounts of the epistemology of perceptual knowledge to distinguish three main alternative positions: representationalism

More information

Keith Lehrer on the basing relation

Keith Lehrer on the basing relation Philos Stud DOI 10.1007/s11098-012-9938-z Keith Lehrer on the basing relation Hannah Tierney Nicholas D. Smith Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Abstract In this paper, we review Keith Lehrer

More information