Believing epistemic contradictions

Review of Symbolic Logic (1):87-114 (2018)
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Abstract

What is it to believe something might be the case? We develop a puzzle that creates difficulties for standard answers to this question. We go on to propose our own solution, which integrates a Bayesian approach to belief with a dynamic semantics for epistemic modals. After showing how our account solves the puzzle, we explore a surprising consequence: virtually all of our beliefs about what might be the case provide counterexamples to the view that rational belief is closed under logical implication.

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Author Profiles

Simon Goldstein
University of Hong Kong
Bob Beddor
National University of Singapore

Citations of this work

Thinking, Guessing, and Believing.Ben Holguin - 2022 - Philosophers' Imprint 22 (1):1-34.
Bounded Modality.Matthew Mandelkern - 2019 - Philosophical Review 128 (1):1-61.
What it takes to believe.Daniel Rothschild - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 177 (5):1345-1362.
Generalized Update Semantics.Simon Goldstein - 2019 - Mind 128 (511):795-835.

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References found in this work

Knowledge and belief.Jaakko Hintikka - 1962 - Ithaca, N.Y.,: Cornell University Press.
Knowledge in an uncertain world.Jeremy Fantl & Matthew McGrath - 2009 - New York: Oxford University Press. Edited by Matthew McGrath.
Elusive knowledge.David Lewis - 1996 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 74 (4):549 – 567.
Knowledge and Its Limits.Timothy Williamson - 2000 - Philosophy 76 (297):460-464.
Scorekeeping in a language game.David Lewis - 1979 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 8 (1):339--359.

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