DOCSLIB.ORG

Lackey, Learning from Words.Pdf

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Lackey, Learning from Words.Pdf International Phenomenological Society Learning from Words Author(s): Jennifer Lackey Reviewed work(s): Source: Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 73, No. 1 (Jul., 2006), pp. 77-101 Published by: International Phenomenological Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40040993 . Accessed: 16/03/2013 18:35 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. International Phenomenological Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded on Sat, 16 Mar 2013 18:35:28 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Philosophyand PhenomenologicalResearch Vol. LXXIII,No. 1,July 2006 Learningfrom Words* JENNIFER LACKEY NorthernIllinois University Thereis a widelyaccepted family of views in theepistemology of testimony centeringaround the claim that belief is thecentral item involved in a testi- monialexchange.1 For instance,in describingthe process of learningvia tes- timony,Elizabeth Fricker provides the following: "one language-userhas a belief,which gives rise to an utteranceby him; as a resultof observingthis utteranceanother user of the same language,his audience,comes to share thatbelief'2 In a similarspirit, Alvin Plantinga says that"...a beliefon the partof the testifiee has warrantonly if thatbelief has warrantfor thetesti- fier."3In both of thesepassages, we findstrands of whatI shall call the BeliefView of Testimony(hereafter, the BVT).4 Thereare several different yet related components of the BVT. First,while statementsare necessaryfor the process of communication,they are merely vehiclesfor expressing beliefs - theyenable us to makepublic what would otherwiseremain private. Strictly speaking, then, we do not learnfrom one another'swords - we learnfrom one another'sbeliefs.5 This is one of the Editor's Note: This paper won the Young EpistemologistPrize for the RutgersEpiste- mologyconference held in 2005. 1 As MichaelWelbourne says, "...it is moreor less standardto describethe whole testimo- nial processin thevocabulary of belief (1994, p. 305). 2 Fricker(1987, p. 68, emphasisadded). In a moreprecise formulation,Fricker says: "A speaker,believing that P, and wishingto communicatethis belief, makes an utterance whichconstitutes his asserting that P\ his audience,a hearer,observing and understand- ingit... as a resultcomes also to believethat P" (1987, pp. 68-9). Plantinga(1993, p. 86, emphasisadded). Proponentsof differentstrands of the BVT include Austin(1979), Welbourne(1979, 1981, 1986, and 1994), Evans (1982), Hardwig(1985 and 1991), Fricker(1987, 1994, and 1995), Ross (1986), Coady (1992 and 1994), Burge(1993 and 1997), Reid (1993), Plantinga(1993), Dummett(1994), McDowell(1994), Williamson(1996 and 2000), Audi (1997, 1998,2004, and 2006), Faulkner(2000), Owens (2000), Reynolds(2002), Adler (2002), Pritchard(2004), and Schmitt(2006). It is of interestto notethat the BVT cuts acrossthe so-called reductionist/non-reductionist debate in theepistemology of testimony. Forinstance, Fricker (1987, 1994,and 1995) is a reductionist,Plantinga (1993) is a non- reductionist,and Faulkner(2000) endorsesa hybridreductionist/non-reductionist view, yetall threeespouse strands of theBVT. 5 Forinstance, Robert Audi says that". .ifone takesit (as ThomasReid mayhave) thatthe recipientof testimonyis (characteristically)responding to theattester's belief - or at least LEARNING FROM WORDS 77 This content downloaded on Sat, 16 Mar 2013 18:35:28 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions reasons why nearlyeveryone takes sincerityon the partof the speaker to be a necessary condition for testimonial knowledge.6In orderto properly learn froma speaker's belief,there needs to be a beliefpresent from which to learn. Thus, if a speaker is insincere and expresses what she herself does not believe, thenthere is nothingfor her to pass on to a hearer. Second, the process of communicatingvia testimonyinvolves a speaker transmittingher belief to a hearer,along withthe epistemicproperties it pos- sesses. For instance,following Fricker's talk of sharing beliefs and Plant- inga's characterizationof the transmissionof warrant,David Owens claims that "...testimony transmitsknowledge of/? by transmittingthe probative forceof reasons forbelief in p fromone partyto another."7Testimony, there- fore,is said to be incapable of generatingnew epistemic features- it merely has the capacity to transmitfrom one person to anotherbeliefs that have already been renderedwarranted, justified, or instances of knowledge via anothersource.8 Third, and closely related,statements themselves are not the bearers of epistemicsignificance - beliefs are. Notice, for instance,that Plantinga does not say thata belief on the part of the testifieehas warrantonly if the testi- fier's statement has warrant;instead, he focuses entirelyon the epistemic status of the speaker's belief. This is a naturalconsequence of the previous two points: if statementsare merely vehicles for transmittingbeliefs that a presumptionthereof - and notjust to a linguisticor othersymbolic act, one may findit plausibleto arguethat testimony is a conditionallybasic source of justificationand per- haps of knowledgeas well" (2004, p. 21). Similarly,Duncan Pritchardclaims thatthe paradigmcase of testimonyis "...the intentionaltransfer of a belieffrom one agent to another,whether in the usual way via a verbalassertion made by the one agentto the other,or by someother means, such as througha note" (2004, p. 326, emphasisadded). And ErnestSosa writes,"On thedefault assumption... which must be thatof sincerity,the speaker's utterancedoes give to understandwliat the speaker thinks.So, the utterance carriesa deliveranceas to thespeaker's mind....If we are to knowa speaker's mind throughhis utterances,the speaker must have a reliablecompetence to statehis mind.He mustbe able throughhis utterancesto deliversafe deliverancesabout whathe thinkson thetopic at hand"(2006, p. 121,emphasis added). For discussionsspecifically about the role of sincerityin testimony,see, for instance, Welbourne(1979, 1981, 1986, and 1994), Hardwig (1985 and 1991), Ross (1986), Fricker(1987, 1994, and 1995), Plantinga(1993), McDowell (1994), Audi (1997 and 1998),Root (2001), Owens(2000), and Adler (2002). For indirectendorsements of sin- cerityas a necessarycondition for testimonialknowledge (warranted belief, justified belief)- e.g., via the strongerrequirement that the speakerhave the knowledge(war- rantedbelief, justified belief) in question-see Burge(1993 and 1997), Williamson(1996 and 2000), Audi(1997, 1998,and 2006), Dummett(1994), Reynolds(2002), and Schmitt (2006). 7 Owens (2000, p. 169). WhenI speakof warrantand justification, I am interestedin theseconcepts only insofar as theyhave someclose connectionwith knowledge. Thus, there may be some subjective notionsof theseconcepts that escape some of the argumentsI give in thispaper. My interesthere, however, is in theepistemology of testimony. 78 JENNIFERLACKEY This content downloaded on Sat, 16 Mar 2013 18:35:28 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions alreadypossess epistemicproperties, then the statements themselves simply dropout of theepistemic picture. Whilethere is muchthat is intuitivelyplausible about the BVT, in what followsI arguethat this entire picture of theepistemology of testimonyis fundamentallyincorrect. In particular,I show that,both causallyand epis- temically,statements, not beliefs,are the crucialitems in a testimonial exchange.9Hence, each of thecomponents that constitute the BVT is false. 1. The Transmissionof EpistemicProperties: Necessity Let us beginwith what is perhapsthe fundamental thesis of theBVT, which I shall call the Transmissionof EpistemicProperties (hereafter,TEP). Roughly,the thoughtexpressed by TEP is that a testimonialexchange involvesa speaker'sbelief, along withthe epistemic properties it possesses, beingtransmitted to a hearer.There are two dimensionsto TEP; one is a necessitythesis and the other is a sufficiencythesis. More precisely, TEP-N: For everyspeaker, A, and hearer,B, B's beliefthat p is warranted(justified, known) on thebasis of A's testimony thatp only if A's belief thatp is warranted(justified, known).10 TEP-S: Forevery speaker, A, andhearer, B, if (1) A's beliefthat p is warranted(justified, known), (2) B comes to believethat p on thebasis of thecontent of A's testimonythat p9u and 9 Throughoutthis paper, I shallfocus on the role of a speaker's statementin a testimonial exchange.However, since a beliefmay be acquiredon thebasis of a speaker's testi- monythat is notin theform of a statement- by a physicalgesture, for instance- a more precisecharacterization of thearguments in thispaper would be in termsof a speaker's act of communication.(For more on the natureof acts of communication,see my (2006a).) Nevertheless,because a discussionof the requisiteconditions for an act of communicationlies outsidethe scope of thispaper, I shall continueto framethe relevant issuesin termsof statements. 10 Proponentsof the necessitythesis (TEP-N) includeWelbourne (1979,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Academic Freedom
    Academic Freedom Jennifer Lackey Northwestern University Academic freedom, which allows members of institutions of higher learning to engage in intellectual pursuits without fear of censorship or retaliation, lies at the heart of the mission of the university. Indeed, according to the American Association of University Professors, “Academic freedom is the indispensable requisite for unfettered teaching and research in institutions of higher education.”1 Recent years have seen growing concerns about threats to academic freedom, many brought about from the changing norms of, and demands on, the university. A wide range of new issues— including content warnings, safe spaces, social media controversies, microaggressions, and no platforming—have given rise to loud cries, in both scholarly and popular contexts, that academic freedom is under serious attack. Despite this, there is surprisingly little philosophical work on the topic of academic freedom, and even less that directly takes up some of these new challenges. The present volume fills both of these gaps in the current literature by bringing together leading philosophers from a wide range of areas of expertise to weigh in on both traditional and timely issues involving academic freedom. 1. The Rationale for Academic Freedom The rationale for academic freedom is often connected to the justification for free speech more broadly.2 In On Liberty, John Stuart Mill famously defends free speech on the grounds that full and 1 https://www.aaup.org/our-work/protecting-academic-freedom 2 Post (2013) argues that, in fact, the norms of free speech are importantly different from the norms of academic freedom. Given the aims of teaching and research, for instance, there is speech that is tolerated in the broader public that would be at fundamental odds with the aims of the university, such as Holocaust open discussion will promote the truth, maintaining that a society should not merely tolerate speech that is objectionable, but embrace it.
    [Show full text]
  • PHIL GR 9110 Metaethics: the Value of Truth Location: Zoom Time: Fall 2020, Tuesday 10:10Am-12Pm EST
    Katja Maria Vogt, katjavogt.com, Columbia University 1 Fall 2020, Metaethics: The Value of Truth, Columbia University PHIL GR 9110 Metaethics: The Value of Truth Location: Zoom Time: Fall 2020, Tuesday 10:10am-12pm EST 1. Course Description Most people think that lying is wrong. The specifics are contested. What is lying? Why is lying wrong? Is lying always wrong? Should ethicists focus on lying, or rather on a range of attitudes that are responsive to the value of truth? These questions sit at the intersection of ethics, normative epistemology, and the philosophy of language. The seminar aims to bring together contributions in these fields, with a view to the larger question of how the value of truth figures in ethical life. We start with an introduction to recent analyses of lying, as well as the most famous normative position on lying, formulated in Kant’s famous essay “On a Supposed Right to Lie from Love of Humanity.” Throughout the semester, we go back and forth between the question of what lying is, and normative questions about whether and why lying is (always?) wrong. The seminar includes two sessions of the Workshop in Ancient and Contemporary Philosophy. Jens Timmermann (St. Andrews) will visit to discuss his book manuscript on Kant’s essay, and Seana Shiffrin (UCLA) will visit for discussion of her book Speech Matters (2014). 2. Week-by-Week Plan Week 1, Sept 8: Introduction to the Ethics and the Nature of Lying Reading 1: Mahon, James Edwin, “The Definition of Lying and Deception,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition), Edward N.
    [Show full text]
  • Tesitmony As Significance Negotiation
    Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 2-4-2016 12:00 AM Tesitmony as Significance Negotiation Jennifer F. Epp The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Tracy Isaacs The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Philosophy A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Jennifer F. Epp 2016 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Epistemology Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, and the Feminist Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Epp, Jennifer F., "Tesitmony as Significance Negotiation" (2016). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 3697. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/3697 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract This dissertation addresses the following questions: How should epistemologists conceptualize testimony? What do people use testimony to do? And why does “what people do” with testimony matter epistemically? In response to these questions I both define and characterize testimony. While doing so I argue for the following answers, given here very briefly: What do people do when they testify? They tell each other things and avow that those things are true, offering their statements to others as reasons to believe. More importantly, they interact with each other in order to negotiate about significance. Why do these activities matter epistemically? Because by engaging in them people generate understanding, as well as knowledge that no one involved may have had prior to negotiation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Duty to Object Jennifer Lackey Northwestern University We Have
    The Duty to Object Jennifer Lackey Northwestern University We have the duty1 to object to things that people say. If you report something that I know is false or unwarranted, or potentially harmful to others, I may be required to say as much. Suppose, for instance, that you claim at a departmental gathering that a colleague plagiarized a crucial passage in his book and I know that this is merely a rumor. I seem obligated to object to this—to make clear that the plagiarism accusation is problematic. My aim in this paper is to explore in greater depth how to best understand this duty. Broadly speaking, there are at least two central sources of the normative force at work in the duty to object: epistemic and moral. While the primary focus of my discussion will be on the epistemic dimension—in large part because this is where the most original work can be done—I will also frequently bring in the moral dimension, particularly when doing so will productively contribute to a fuller understanding of the duty to object. Here is the plan for the paper: after some preliminary remarks in Section 1, I turn, in Section 2, to highlighting two central features of this duty that distinguish it from others, such as believing in accordance with the evidence or promise-keeping. In particular, I argue that whether we are obligated to object is directly influenced not only by what other relevant members of the conversational context or community do, but also by the social status of the agent in question.
    [Show full text]
  • Final Version in Jennifer Lackey, Ed., Essays in Collective Epistemology, Oxford University Press (2014)
    Final version in Jennifer Lackey, ed., Essays in Collective Epistemology, Oxford University Press (2014). Please feel free to email me for a pdf of the published version: [email protected] Disagreement and Public Controversy1 Unfortunately for the good sense of mankind, the fact of their fallibility is far from carrying the weight in their practical judgment which is always allowed to it in theory; for while everyone well knows himself to be fallible, few think it necessary to take any precautions against their own fallibility, or admit the supposition that any opinion of which they feel very certain may be one of the examples of the error to which they acknowledge themselves to be liable. — J.S. Mill, On Liberty J.S Mill’s famous defense of free speech makes several arguments, but one of the most interesting springs from his appreciation of human fallibility. This strand of argument is straightforwardly epistemic: Mill would have us treat the opinions and arguments of those who disagree with us as an epistemic resource, which furnishes us with a means for taking precautions against our own fallibility. More recent discussion of disagreement in mainstream epistemology has not been aimed at drawing conclusions in political philosophy, but at better understanding what sort of purely epistemic role disagreement should play. Most of the debate has revolved around the question of what, if any, effect the disagreement of others should have on the confidence with which one holds one’s own beliefs. (Answers to this question may be called “Conciliatory” to the extent that they hold that disagreement often requires us to be less confident in our beliefs than we 1 For helpful discussion or comments on drafts, I’d like to thank Nathan Ballantyne, Jennifer Lackey, Andrew Rotondo, Maja Spener, Henry Swift, an anonymous referee for Oxford University Press, and audiences at the Second Copenhagen Conference in Epistemology, the Brandeis Graduate Student Brown Bag series, and the Conference on Epistemology of Groups at Northwestern University.
    [Show full text]
  • In Defense of Non-Reductionism in the Epistemology of Testimony Timothy Perrine Synthese, DOI: 10.1007/S11229-014-0443-0
    In Defense of Non-Reductionism in the Epistemology of Testimony Timothy Perrine Synthese, DOI: 10.1007/s11229-014-0443-0 Abstract: Almost everyone agrees that many testimonial beliefs constitute knowledge. According to non-reductionists, some testimonial beliefs possess positive epistemic status independent of that conferred by memory and induction. Recently, Jennifer Lackey has provided a counterexample to a popular version of this view. Here I argue that her counterexample fails. Almost everyone agrees that many testimonial beliefs constitute knowledge. But where does the positive epistemic status of testimonial beliefs come from? What is its source? Following Hume (1975: pp. 111f.), “reductionists” hold that: Reductionism: No testimonial beliefs possess positive epistemic status independent of that conferred by perception, memory, and induction.1 They reject a thesis associated with Reid (1997: pp. 192-6) that: Non-Reductionism: Some testimonial beliefs possess positive epistemic status independent of that conferred by perception, memory, and induction.2 Recently, Jennifer Lackey has provided a counterexample to a popular version of Non- Reductionism. Here I argue that her counterexample fails. 1. Non-Reductionism and the Alien Counterexample According to non-reductionists, some testimonial beliefs possess positive epistemic status independent of that conferred by perception, memory, and induction. Now we can distinguish such views in terms of their scope and degree. Non-Reductionism is consistent with some testimonial beliefs being reduced but not all. Let us call ‘Maximal Non-Reductionism’ the view that all testimonial beliefs possess positive epistemic status independent of that conferred by perception, memory, and induction. Additionally—as Gettier taught us—a belief can have some positive epistemic status but fall short of being knowledge.
    [Show full text]
  • What Luck Is Not Jennifer Lackey Abstract
    What Luck Is Not Jennifer Lackey Abstract: In this paper, I critically examine the two dominant views of the concept of luck in the current literature: lack of control accounts and modal accounts. In particular, I argue that the conditions proposed by such views—that is, a lack of control and the absence of counterfactual robustness—are neither necessary nor sufficient for an event’s being lucky. Hence, I conclude that the two main accounts in the current literature both fail to capture what is distinctive of, and central to, the concept of luck. The concept of luck plays a crucial role in many philosophical discussions. For instance, it is nearly received wisdom in epistemology that the possession of knowledge is incompatible with at least certain kinds of luck. Ethicists have long noted that actions that result purely from luck are neither praiseworthy nor properly creditable to the agents who perform them. And fully making sense of the concept of responsibility is something that metaphysicians simply cannot do without a consideration of luck. Yet despite its philosophical importance, it is rare to find more than a rough characterization of this concept in the literature, and even rarer to find anything resembling a substantive account of luck. Recently, however, this has begun to change, and several detailed proposals of luck have been offered, all of which fall under two general views of this concept: lack of control accounts and modal accounts. In what follows, I shall critically examine these two different approaches to analyzing the concept of luck and show that they are both fundamentally flawed.
    [Show full text]
  • Comments on Jennifer Lackey: Group Belief: Lessons from Lies and Bullshit
    Comments on Jennifer Lackey’s Group Belief: Lessons from Lies and Bullshit ILYA KASAVIN, INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY, RAS Summary Концепция Дженнифер Лэки представляет собой не совсем последовательный вариант неклассической социальной эпистемологии, в которой природа коллективных верований призвана объясняться рядом социокультурных факторов. Мои замечания: ни «группа», ни «верование» не получили ясного определения; нет критерия когнитивно релевантных и нерелевантных социальных факторов; сохраняется противопоставление индивида и группы. Мои предложения: более последовательно провести эту точку зрения можно, используя понимание группы М. Дуглас; следует показать социальную природу индивида; если редуцировать верование к выражениям языка, то желательно более полно привлечь инструментарий философии языка и дискурс-анализа. Epistemology: from classical to nonclassical The classical epistemology includes the assumption that the cognitive phenomena can be normatively separated into two groups. On the one hand, there are justified true beliefs or knowledge; on the other, there are deviations like falsehood, deception, lie, bullshit. The first group can teach us about what rationality is, due to the sense-empirical origin and its social sterility; the second one is a sphere of irrationality, chaos, arbitrary will, all due to the conceptual and social superfluity. Non-classical approach endorsed The considerations provided by Jennifer Lackey seem to be tending beyond the limits of the classical epistemology. Namely, she reestablishes the epistemological value of cognitive deviations like lies and bullshit, assuming that we can learn about the nature of group belief from examining them. Her analysis is highly illuminating for it shows how heterogeneous the cognitive phenomena really are. Beliefs, testimonies, knowledge claims – all these include things which are normally seen as different and even completely opposed to each other.
    [Show full text]
  • Review, Lackey, "Learning from Words"
    This is a repository copy of Review, Lackey, "Learning from Words". White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/93977/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Faulkner, P.R. (2009) Review, Lackey, "Learning from Words". Mind, 118 (470). pp. 479-485. ISSN 0026-4423 https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/fzp036 This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Mind following peer review. The version of record Mind (April 2009) 118 (470): 479-485. is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mind/fzp036. Reuse Unless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version - refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher’s website. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Learning from Words – Testimony as a Source of Knowledge, by Jennifer Lackey, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
    [Show full text]
  • Jennifer Lackey (Ed.) - Essays in Collective Epistemology (Oxford University Press, 2014)
    Jennifer Lackey (ed.) - Essays in Collective Epistemology (Oxford University Press, 2014) Han van Wietmarschen University College London We routinely ascribe both belief and knowledge to collective entities. We say that the Bush administration knew that no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, that the philosophy department believes its hiring decision complies with employment law, or that we know that greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change. Collective epistemology studies the nature of collective belief, justification, and knowledge. This volume contains ten original articles, five of which are centrally concerned with collective epistemology so understood. The other five take up a number of issues that fall into the wider area of social epistemology. Two of the contributions are primarily concerned with the metaphysics of group belief and knowledge. Gilbert and Pilchman propose a joint commitment account of the nature of group belief: a group believes that p if and only if the members of the group are jointly committed to believe that p as a body. Bird is primarily interested in the ascription of knowledge to large, diffuse groups, such as the scientific community as a whole. On Bird’s view, the scientific community can know, say, how stem cell differentiation works, but not because the members of this group are jointly committed to a theory of stem cell differentiation. Instead, group knowledge of this kind is based on the distribution of information and abilities across the group members. Together, these two articles give a good sense of the wide range of phenomena under investigation in this volume, and they provide an appropriate warning against the assumption that that all of our everyday collective knowledge and belief ascriptions refer to the same underlying structure.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophy Work Topic: Philosophical Methodology PHIL 10056 Honours
    Philosophy Work Topic: Philosophical Methodology PHIL 10056 Honours Course 2021-22 1. Course Information Course Organiser: Dr Fedor Benevich Email: [email protected] Online Office Hours: Thursday 9-11am (UK time), book a slot here Course Secretary: Ann-Marie Cowe Email: [email protected] 2. Course Description For students not earning credits at a host university, this course will cover major methods and principles in philosophical debates: the method of cases, the relationship between theory and evidence, the principle of sufficient reason, and ontological commitment. We will do so by investigating in detail a specific debate in which these methods and principles are deployed: the Trolley Problem, the proper response to finding oneself in disagreement with one’s peers or with those one regards as experts, the cosmological argument for the existence of god, and the status of names in fiction. Course Purpose This course is meant for students studying philosophy and at least one language during their mandatory third year abroad. These students need to earn 40 credits in philosophy. Some students satisfy this requirement by earing 20 ECTS credits at a host university. Those who do not must complete a course on philosophical methodology. The course will be delivered by online videos posted to the learn page, together with group online tutorials. Organisation The course is based around (a) readings, (b) online video lectures, and (c) tutorials that we will have online via MS Teams. There are two units per semester, and one essay due per unit. There are also 10 short assignments due over the course of the year.
    [Show full text]
  • VE and the Gettier Dilemma
    VIRTUE EPISTEMOLOGY AND THE GETTIER DILEMMA Ian M. Church Hillsdale College 33 E. College St. Hillsdale, MI 49242 USA Email: [email protected] Forthcoming in Metaphilosophy ABSTRACT: The Gettier dilemma facing reductive analyses of knowledge has not been properly appreciated by virtue epistemologist or even virtue epistemology’s most vocal critics. In §1, we start by considering how recent critics of virtue epistemology understand the Gettier Problem facing virtue-theoretic accounts of knowledge. I highlight how the dilemma facing virtue- theoretic analyses of knowledge is more general than these critics seem to suggest. In §2, I elucidate the worry that the threat facing virtue epistemology is really a dilemma between Gettier counterexamples and radical skepticism. In §3, we will consider how some recent virtue epistemologists have tried to viably defuse the Gettier Problem. We will see (i) just how the critiques elucidated in §1 have (mis)shaped the dialectic between virtue epistemology and what is required in solving Gettier counterexamples and (ii) how this has led to virtue epistemologists underestimating the widespread insidiousness of Gettier counterexamples. KEY WORDS: The Gettier Problem; Reductive Analysis of Knowledge; Virtue Epistemology Epistemology is on the move. Ever since 1963 when Edmund Gettier challenged the sufficiency of the standard analysis of knowledge with a series of counterexamples, all attempts to defend it have been shown either to lead to further Gettier-style counterexamples or to produce analyses of
    [Show full text]