A pluralistic account of epistemic rationality

Synthese 195 (8):3571-3596 (2018)
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Abstract

In this essay, I aim to motivate and defend a pluralistic view of epistemic rationality. At the core of the view is the notion that epistemic rationality is essentially a species of practical rationality put in the service of various epistemic goals. I begin by sketching some closely related views that have appeared in the literature. I then present my preferred version of the view and sketch some of its benefits. Thomas Kelly has raised challenging objections to a part of the view, which I then present and address. I then raise some distinct worries that might linger and sketch some possible ways one might address them.

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Author's Profile

Matthew Kopec
Harvard University

References found in this work

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.Thomas Samuel Kuhn - 1962 - Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Edited by Otto Neurath.
Slaves of the passions.Mark Andrew Schroeder - 2007 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Epistemology and cognition.Alvin I. Goldman - 1986 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Group agency: the possibility, design, and status of corporate agents.Christian List & Philip Pettit - 2011 - New York: Oxford University Press. Edited by Philip Pettit.
Knowledge in a social world.Alvin I. Goldman - 1991 - New York: Oxford University Press.

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