Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T19:00:38.820Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A new puzzle about belief and credence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Andrew Moon
Andrew Moon*
Affiliation:
Philosophy Department, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

I present a puzzle about belief and credence, which takes the form of three independently supported views that are mutually inconsistent. The first is the view that S has a modal belief that p (e.g., S believes that probably-p) if and only if S has a corresponding credence that p. The second is the view that S believes that p only if S has some credence that p. The third is the view that, possibly, S believes that p without a modal belief that p. [Word Count: 85]

Keywords

Credal expressivismbeliefcredenceconfidenceepistemic modals
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , March 2019 , pp. 272 - 291
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Audi, R., 2011. Rationality and Religious Commitment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchak, L., 2014. “Belief, Credence and Norms.” Philosophical Studies, 169: 285–311. doi:10.1007/s11098-013-0182-y.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carnap, R., 1962. “The Aim of Inductive Logic.” In Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, edited by Nagel, E., Suppes, P., and Tarski, A., 303–318. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Carruthers, P., 2006. The Architecture of the Mind. Oxford: Clarenden Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, J. A., Jarvis, B., and Rubin, K.. 2016. “Belief without Credence.” Synthese, 193: 2323–2351. doi:10.1007/s11229-015-0846-6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, D., 2004. Putting Logic in Its Place. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, R., 2013. “Belief Is Credence One (In Context).” Philosopher’s Imprint, 13: 1–18.Google Scholar
Cohen, L. J., 1992. An Essay on Belief and Acceptance. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Crabill, J., 2013. “Suppose Yalcin Is Wrong about Epistemic Modals.” Philosophical Studies, 162: 625–635. doi:10.1007/s11098-011-9785-3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, D., 1985. “Rational Animals.” In Actions and Events: Perspectives on the Philosophy of Donald Davidson, edited by Lepore, E. and McLaughlin, B. P.. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Dogramaci, S., 2016. “Knowing Our Degrees of Belief.” Episteme, 13: 269–287. doi:10.1017/epi.2015.48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dorr, C., and Hawthorne, J.. 2013. “Embedding Epistemic Modals.” Mind, 122: 867–914. doi:10.1093/mind/fzt091.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dretske, F., 1988. Explaining Behavior. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Eriksson, L., and Hajek, A.. 2007. “What are Degrees of Belief?” Studia Logica, 86: 183–213. doi:10.1007/s11225-007-9059-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fantl, J., and McGrath, M.. 2009. Knowledge in an Uncertain World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fodor, J., 1987. Psychosemantics: The Problem of Meaning in the Philosophy of Mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fodor, J., 1990. A Theory of Content and Other Essays. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Foley, R., 1993. Working without A Net: A Study of Egocentric Epistemology. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Foley, R., 2009. “Introduction.” In Degrees of Belief: An Anthology, edited by Huber, F. and Schmidt-Petri, C., 1–33. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gallistel, C., 1990. The Organization of Learning. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Ganson, D., 2008. “Evidentialism and Pragmatic Constraints on Outright Belief.” Philosophical Studies, 193: 441–458. doi:10.1007/s11098-007-9133-9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldman, A., 2012. “Theory of Mind.” In The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Cognitive Science, edited by Margolis, E., Samuels, R., and Stich, S.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goldman, A., and McGrath, M.. 2015. Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Greco, D., 2015. “‘How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Probability 1ʹ.” Philosophical Perspectives, 29: 179–201. doi:10.1111/phpe.12059.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harman, G., 1986. Change in View. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Hawthorne, J., Rothschild, D., and Spectre, L.. 2016. “Belief Is Weak.” Philosophical Studies, 173: 1393–1404. doi:10.1007/s11098-015-0553-7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holton, R., 2014. “Intention as a Model for Belief.” In Rational and Social Agency: The Philosophy of Michael Bratman, edited by Vargas, M. and Yaffe, G., 12–37. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, F., 2009. “Introduction.” In Degrees of Belief: An Anthology, edited by Huber, F. and Schmidt-Petri, C., 1–33. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, E., forthcoming-a. “Belief and Credence: A Defense of Dualism.” Draft. Dissertation, University of Notre Dame.Google Scholar
Jackson, E., forthcoming-b. “Belief and Credence: Why the Attitude-Type Matters.” In Philosophical Studies.Google Scholar
Jeffrey, R., 1985. “Animal Interpretation.” In Actions and Events: Perspectives on the Philosophy of Donald Davidson, edited by Lepore, E. and McLaughlin, B. P.. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Kaplan, M., 1996. Decision Theory as Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kratzer, A., 1977. “What ‘Must’ and ‘Can’ Must and Can Mean.” Linguistics and Philosophy, 1: 337–355. doi:10.1007/BF00353453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kriegel, U., 2013. Phenomenal Intentionality. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lennertz, B., 2015. “Quantificational Credences.” Philosophers’ Imprint, 15: 1–24.Google Scholar
Lewis, D., 1980. “A Subjectivist’s Guide to Objective Chance.” In Studies in Inductive Logic and Probability, edited by Volume, I. I. and Jeffrey, R., 263–293. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Locke, D., 2014. “The Decision-Theoretic Lockean Thesis.” Inquiry, 57: 28–54. doi:10.1080/0020174X.2013.858421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maher, P., 1993. Betting on Theories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malcolm, N., 1973. “Thoughtless Brutes.” Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 46: 5–20. doi:10.2307/3129585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meacham, C., and Weisberg, J.. 2011. “Representation Theorems and the Foundations of Decision Theory.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 89: 641–663. doi:10.1080/00048402.2010.510529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moon, A., 2017. “Beliefs Do Not Come in Degrees.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 47: 760–778. doi:10.1080/00455091.2017.1320201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moon, A., 2018. “The Nature of Doubt and a New Puzzle about Belief, Doubt, and Confidence.” Synthese, 195: 1827–1848. doi:10.1007/s11229-016-1310-y.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moss, S., 2013. “Epistemology Formalized.” Philosophical Review, 122: 1–43. doi:10.1215/00318108-1728705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moss, S., 2018. Probabilistic Knowledge. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers-Schulz, B., and Schwitzgebel, E.. 2013. “Knowing that P without Believing that P.” Nous, 47: 371–384. doi:10.1111/nous.12022.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plantinga, A., 1993. Warrant: The Current Debate. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, J., and Schroeder, M.. 2014. “Belief, Credence and Pragmatic Encroachment.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 88: 259–288. doi:10.1111/phpr.2014.88.issue-2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothschild, D., 2012. “Expressing Credences.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 112: 99–114. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9264.2012.00327.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, B., 1948. Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits. Oxford: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Schneider, B., 2010. “Expressivism Concerning Epistemic Modals.” Philosophical Quarterly, 60: 601–1615. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9213.2009.643.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwitgebel, E., 2002. “A Phenomenal Dispositional Account of Belief.” Nous, 36: 249–275. doi:10.1111/1468-0068.00370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwitgebel, E., 2015. “Belief.” In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Zalta, E., March 24, 2015 version. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/belief/Google Scholar
Smithies, D., 2012. “The Mental Lives of Zombies.” Philosophical Perspectives, 26: 343–372. doi:10.1111/phpe.2012.26.issue-1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staffel, J., 2013. “Can There Be Reasoning with Degrees of Belief?” Synthese, 190: 3535–3551. doi:10.1007/s11229-012-0209-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sturgeon, S., 2008. “Reason and the Grain of Belief.” Noûs, 42: 139–165. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0068.2007.00676.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sturgeon, S., 2010. “Confidence and Course-Grained Attitudes.” In Oxford Studies in Epistemology, edited by Gendler, T. and Hawthorne, J., 126–149. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sturgeon, S., 2015. “The Tale of Bella and Creda.” Philosopher’s Imprint, 15: 1–9.Google Scholar
Swanson, E., 2011. “How Not to Theorize about the Language of Subjective Uncertainty.” In Epistemic Modality, edited by Egan, A. and Weatherson, B., 249–269. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tang, W., 2015. “Belief and Cognitive Limitations.” Philosophical Studies, 172: 249–260. doi:10.1007/s11098-014-0292-1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weatherson, B., 2005. “Can We Do Without Pragmatic Encroachment?” Philosophical Perspectives, 19: 417–443. doi:10.1111/phpe.2005.19.issue-1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wedgwood, R., 2012. “Outright Belief.” Dialectica, 66: 309–329. doi:10.1111/dltc.2012.66.issue-3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisberg, J., forthcoming. “Belief in Psyontology.” http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/~weisber3/articles/Psyontology.pdfGoogle Scholar
Yalcin, S., 2007. “Epistemic Modals.” Mind, 116: 983–1026. doi:10.1093/mind/fzm983.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yalcin, S., 2011. “Nonfactualism About Epistemic Modality.” In Epistemic Modality, edited by Egan, A. and Weatherson, B., 295–332. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yalcin, S., 2012. “Bayesian Expressivism.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 112: 123–160. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9264.2012.00329.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar