How To Be Conservative: A Partial Defense of Epistemic Conservatism
Australasian Journal of Philosophy (forthcoming)
| Abstract | Conservatism about perceptual justification tells us that we cannot have perceptual justification to believe p unless we also have justification to believe that perceptual experiences are reliable. There are many ways to maintain this thesis, ways that have not been sufficiently appreciated. Most of these ways lead to at least one of two problems. The first is an over-intellectualization problem, whereas the second problem concerns the satisfaction of the epistemic basing requirement on justified belief. I argue that there is at least one Conservative view that survives both difficulties, a view which has the further ability to undercut a crucial consideration that has supported Dogmatist views about perceptual justification. The final section explores a tension between Conservatism and the prospects of having a completely general account of propositional justification. Ironically, the problem is that Conservatives seem committed to making the acquisition of propositional justification too easy. My partial defense of Conservatism concludes by suggesting possible solutions to this problem. | |||||||||
| Keywords | conservatism dogmatism perceptual justification propositional justification doxastic justification epistemic basing grounds entitlements easy justification | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
  |
| External links |
|
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesBerit Brogaard (forthcoming). Phenomenal Seemings and Sensible Dogmatism. In C. Tucker (ed.), Seemings and Justification. Oxford University Press.
John Turri (2010). On the Relationship Between Propositional and Doxastic Justification. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 80 (2):312-326.
Kevin McCain (2008). The Virtues of Epistemic Conservatism. Synthese 164 (2):185 - 200.
Tim Willenken (forthcoming). Moorean Responses to Skepticism: A Defense. Philosophical Studies.
Ram Neta (2010). Liberalism and Conservatism in the Epistemology of Perceptual Belief. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 88 (4):685-705.
Richard Schantz (1999). The Role of Sensory Experience in Epistemic Justification: A Problem for Coherentism. Erkenntnis 50 (2-3):177-191.
Ram Neta (2007). Propositional Justification, Evidence, and the Cost of Error. Philosophical Issues 17 (1):197–216.
Clayton Littlejohn (2011). Defeating Phenomenal Conservatism. Analytic Philosophy 52 (1):35-48.
Chris Tucker (2010). Why Open-Minded People Should Endorse Dogmatism. Philosophical Perspectives 24 (1):529-545.
Nathan Hanna (2011). Against Phenomenal Conservatism. Acta Analytica 26 (3):213-221.
Declan Smithies (forthcoming). Why Justification Matters. In David Henderson & John Greco (eds.), Epistemic Evaluation: Point and Purpose in Epistemology. Oxford University Press.
Kevin McCain (2012). The Interventionist Account of Causation and the Basing Relation. Philosophical Studies 159 (3):357-382.
Asbjørn Steglich-Petersen (forthcoming). Truth as the Aim of Epistemic Justification. In Timothy Chan (ed.), The Aim of Belief. Oxford University Press.
Ted Poston (2012). Is There an 'I' in Epistemology? Dialectica 66 (4):517-541.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2012-11-16Total downloads76 ( #10,629 of 549,223 )Recent downloads (6 months)46 ( #638 of 549,223 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
