In defence of gullibility: The epistemology of testimony and the psychology of deception detection
Synthese (forthcoming)
| Abstract | Research in the psychology of deception detection implies that Fricker, in making her case for reductionism in the epistemology of testimony, overestimates both the epistemic demerits of the antireductionist policy of trusting speakers blindly and the epistemic merits of the reductionist policy of monitoring speakers for trustworthiness: folk psychological prejudices to the contrary notwithstanding, it turns out that monitoring is on a par (in terms both of the reliability of the process and of the sensitivity of the beliefs that it produces) with blind trust. The consequence is that while (a version of) Fricker’s argument for the necessity of a reduction succeeds, her argument for the availability of reductions fails. This does not, however, condemn us to endorse standard pessimistic reductionism, according to which there is no testimonial knowledge, for recent research concerning the methods used by subjects to discover deception in non-laboratory settings suggests that only a more moderate form of pessimism is in order. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,631 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesJennifer Lackey (2008/2010). Learning From Words: Testimony as a Source of Knowledge. Oxford University Press.
Lisa Bortolotti & Matteo Mameli (2012). Self-Deception, Delusion and the Boundaries of Folk Psychology. HumanaMente 20:203-221.
Jennifer Lackey (2006). Learning From Words. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 73 (1):77–101.
Sanford Goldberg (2010). Comments on Miranda Fricker's Epistemic Injustice. Episteme 7 (2):138-150.
Paul Faulkner (1998). Conspiracies And Lyes: Scepticism And The Epistemology of Testimony. Dissertation, University College London
Joseph Shieber (2011). Against Credibility. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 90 (1):1 - 18.
Tomoji Shogenji (2006). A Defense of Reductionism About Testimonial Justification of Beliefs. Noûs 40 (2):331–346.
Deborah Tollefsen (2007). Group Testimony. Social Epistemology 21 (3):299 – 311.
Fabrice Clément (2010). To Trust or Not to Trust? Children's Social Epistemology. Review of Philosophy and Psychology 1 (4):531-549.
Sanford Goldberg & David Henderson (2006). Monitoring and Anti-Reductionism in the Epistemology of Testimony. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 72 (3):600-617.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-05-27Total downloads58 ( #16,814 of 548,976 )Recent downloads (6 months)2 ( #37,438 of 548,976 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
