Mind 116 (463):523 - 547 (2007)
Authors |
|
Abstract |
This paper defends direct activism-the view that it is possible to form beliefs in a causally direct way. In particular, it addresses the charge that direct activism entails voluntarism-the thesis that we can form beliefs at will. It distinguishes weak and strong varieties of voluntarism and argues that, although direct activism may entail the weak variety, it does not entail the strong one. The paper goes on to argue that strong voluntarism is non-contingently false, sketching a new argument for that conclusion. This argument does not tell against the weak form of voluntarism, however, and the final part of the paper argues that weak voluntarism, and consequently direct activism, remains a coherent and defensible position.
|
Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1093/mind/fzm523 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
Deciding to Believe.Bernard Williams - 1970 - In Problems of the Self. Cambridge University Press. pp. 136--51.
View all 35 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Partial Belief and Flat-Out Belief.Keith Frankish - 2009 - In Franz Huber & Christoph Schmidt-Petri (eds.), Degrees of Belief. Springer. pp. 75--93.
Permissivism, Underdetermination, and Evidence.Elizabeth Jackson & Margaret Greta Turnbull - forthcoming - In Clayton Littlejohn & Maria Lasonen-Aarnio (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Evidence. New York: Routledge. pp. 1-13.
View all 23 citations / Add more citations
Similar books and articles
Acceptance and Deciding to Believe.Andrei A. Buckareff - 2004 - Journal of Philosophical Research 29:173-190.
Theory-Theory and the Direct Perception of Mental States.Jane Suilin Lavelle - 2012 - Review of Philosophy and Psychology 3 (2):213-230.
The Will and Evidence Toward Belief: A Critical Essay on Jonathan E. Adler's Belief's Own Ethics.Nathan Segars - 2006 - Social Epistemology 20 (1):79 – 91.
Doxastic Voluntarism: A Sceptical Defence.Danny Frederick - 2013 - International Journal for the Study of Skepticism 3 (1):24-44.
Descartes and the Question of Direct Doxastic Voluntarism.Rico Vitz - 2010 - Journal of Philosophical Research 35:107-21.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2009-01-28
Total views
152 ( #62,422 of 2,403,822 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
3 ( #255,934 of 2,403,822 )
2009-01-28
Total views
152 ( #62,422 of 2,403,822 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
3 ( #255,934 of 2,403,822 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads