Erkenntnis 78 (3):561-569 (2013)
Authors |
|
Abstract |
William Alston has provided a by now well-known objection to the deontological conception of epistemic justification by arguing that since we lack control over our beliefs, we are not responsible for them. It is widely acknowledged that if Alston’s argument is convincing, then it seems that the very idea of doxastic responsibility is in trouble. In this article, I attempt to refute one line of response to Alston’s argument. On this approach, we are responsible for our beliefs in virtue of the fact that we have certain belief-policies, that is, policies about what (not) to believe in certain circumstances. I present the advocate of this strategy with a dilemma: either belief-policies are themselves beliefs or they are not. If they are, then they are as involuntary as our other beliefs. If they are not, then they cannot make a difference to the beliefs we hold. I conclude that if we bear doxastic responsibility, it should not be explained in terms of our belief-policies
|
Keywords | Belief-policies Belief Acceptance Ethics of belief |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
ISBN(s) | |
DOI | 10.1007/s10670-012-9384-5 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
Responsibility and Control: A Theory of Moral Responsibility.John Martin Fischer & Mark Ravizza - 1998 - Cambridge University Press.
The Deontological Conception of Epistemic Justification.William P. Alston - 1988 - Philosophical Perspectives 2:257-299.
Responsibility and Control: A Theory of Moral Responsibility.John Martin Fischer & Mark Ravizza - 1999 - Philosophical Quarterly 49 (197):543-545.
View all 27 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Similar books and articles
Why Responsible Belief is Blameless Belief.Anthony Booth & Rik Peels - 2010 - Journal of Philosophy 107 (5):257-265.
Does Doxastic Responsibility Entail the Ability to Believe Otherwise?Rik Peels - 2013 - Synthese 190 (17):3651-3669.
A New Rejection of Doxastic Voluntarism.Sergi Rosell - 2009 - Teorema: International Journal of Philosophy (3):97-112.
Doxastic Voluntarism: A Sceptical Defence.Danny Frederick - 2013 - International Journal for the Study of Skepticism 3 (1):24-44.
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.
The Virtues of Belief: Toward a Non-Evidentialist Ethics of Belief-Formation.Richard Amesbury - 2008 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 63 (1-3):25 - 37.
Doxastic Voluntarism, Epistemic Deontology and Belief-Contravening Commitments.Michael J. Shaffer - 2013 - American Philosophical Quarterly 50 (1):73-82.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2012-06-22
Total views
263 ( #41,332 of 2,507,652 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
9 ( #81,082 of 2,507,652 )
2012-06-22
Total views
263 ( #41,332 of 2,507,652 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
9 ( #81,082 of 2,507,652 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads