Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T05:04:33.439Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Why There May Be Epistemic Duties

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2014

SCOTT STAPLEFORD
SCOTT STAPLEFORD*
Affiliation:
St. Thomas University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Chase Wrenn argues that there are no epistemic duties. When it appears that we have an epistemic duty to believe, disbelieve or suspend judgement about some proposition P, we are really under a moral obligation to adopt the attitude towards P that our evidence favours. The argument appeals to theoretical parsimony: our conceptual scheme will be simpler without epistemic duties and we should therefore drop them. I argue that Wrenn’s strategy is flawed. There may well be things that we ought to do on epistemic grounds alone.

Selon Chase Wrenn, il n’existe aucun devoir épistémique. En apparence, certes, nous avons le devoir épistémique de croire, de ne pas croire ou de suspendre notre jugement eu égard à une proposition P. Pourtant, en réalité, notre devoir moral consiste à adopter face à P l’attitude appropriée en fonction des preuves qui nous sont présentées. L’argument s’appuie sur le principe de parcimonie théorique: notre schéma conceptuel serait plus simple sans la notion de devoir épistémique et pour cette raison nous ne devrions pas y avoir recours. Dans ce texte, je montre que la stratégie de Wrenn est erronée. Il pourrait s’avérer qu’il y ait des choses que nous devrions faire uniquement sur une base épistémique.

Type
Articles
Information
Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review / Revue canadienne de philosophie , Volume 54 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 63 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Philosophical Association 2015 

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

Alston, W. P.1988“The Deontological Conception of Epistemic Justification.” Philosophical Perspectives 2: 257–299.Google Scholar
Booth, A. R.2012“All Things Considered Duties to Believe.” Synthese 187: 509–517.Google Scholar
Baker, A.2010“Simplicity.” In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/simplicity/#SimIndGoogle Scholar
DeRose, K.2011“Questioning Evidentialism.” In Evidentialism and its Discontents, ed. Dougherty, T.. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 137–146.Google Scholar
Dougherty, T.2011“Reducing Responsibility: An Evidentialist Account of Epistemic Blame.” European Journal of Philosophy 20: 534–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dougherty, T.2014“The ‘Ethics of Belief’ is Ethics (Period).” In The Ethics of Belief, ed. Matheson, J. and Vitz, R.. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 146–166.Google Scholar
Feldman, R.2004“The Ethics of Belief.” In Evidentialism: Essays in Epistemology, ed. Conee, E. and Feldman, R.. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 166–195.Google Scholar
Hale, S.1991“Against Supererogation.” American Philosophical Quarterly 28: 273–285.Google Scholar
Hume, D.1953“Of The Original Contract.” In David Hume’s Political Essays, ed. Hendel, C. W.. New York: The Liberal Arts Press, 43–63.Google Scholar
Korcz, K.1997“Recent Work on the Basing Relation.” American Philosophical Quarterly 34: 171–191.Google Scholar
Marmor, A.2005“Authority, Equality and Democracy.” Ratio Juris 18: 315–345.Google Scholar
Marmor, A.2006“How Law is Like Chess.” Legal Theory 12: 347–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, M.2010“We Have No Positive Epistemic Duties.” Mind 119: 83–102.Google Scholar
Ryan, S.2003“Doxastic Compatibilism and the Ethics of Belief.” Philosophical Studies 114: 47–79.Google Scholar
Sober, E.2009“Parsimony Arguments in Science and Philosophy—A Test Case for Naturalism P.” Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 83: 117–155.Google Scholar
Stapleford, S.2012“Epistemic Duties and Failure to Understand One's Evidence.” Principia 16: 147–177.Google Scholar
Stapleford, S.2013“Imperfect Epistemic Duties and the Justificational Fecundity of Evidence.” Synthese 190: 4065–4075.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stapleford, S.2014“Completing Epistemic Oughts.” Philosophical Forum 45: 133–148.Google Scholar
Stapleford, S.2016 “Epistemic vs. All Things Considered Requirements.” (forthcoming)Google Scholar
Wrenn, C.2007“Why There Are No Epistemic Duties.” Dialogue 46 (1): 115–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar