Epistemic Defeat, Deontology and Internalism

Year 2014, , 103 - 115, 30.10.2014

Fatih Öztürk

https://doi.org/10.20981/kuufefd.20636

Cited By: 1

Abstract

What, on the view of many epistemologists, underlies the rationale for internalism is the deontological thought that epistemic justification proceeds in terms of how well our believing that p stands vis-à-vis relevant epistemic duties. However, in “Deontology and Defeat”, Bergmann argues that the view that justification is to be analyzed in deontic terms does not motivate internalism, as many are inclined to suppose. I argue that Bergmann’s argument fails to show this, for the reason that his argument is based on equating S’s belief that his second-order belief that p is epistemically irrational with the notion of epistemic defeat, the presence of which is sufficient but not necessary for epistemic irrationality.

Keywords

Deontology; Epistemic Defeat; Justification; Internalism; Bergmann

References

• ALSTON, William (1989) Epistemic Justification, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
• BERGMAN, Michael (2000) “Deontology and Defeat”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. LX, No.1, 87-102.
• CHISHOLM, Roderick (1977) Theory of Knowledge, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
• GINET, Carl (1975) Knowledge, Perception and Memory, Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
• GRECO, John (1990) “Internalism and Epistemically Responsible Belief”, Synthese 85, 245-277.
• GOLDMAN, Alvin (1986) Epistemology and Cognition, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
• GOLDMAN, Alvin (1999) “Internalism Exposed”, The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. XCVI, No.6, 271-293.
• FOLEY, Richard (1987) The theory of Epistemic Rationality, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
• FUMERTON, Richard (1995) Metaepistemology and Scepticism, Lanham, London: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc.
• NOZICK, Robert (1981) Philosophical Explanations, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University.
• KORNBLITH, Hilary (1988) “How Internal Can You Get?”, Synthese 74, 313-327.
• MOSER, Paul (1985) Empirical Justification, Boston: D. Reidel.
• PLANTINGA, Alvin (1990) “Justification in the 20th Century”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. L, supplement, 45-71.
• STEUP, Matthias (1996) An Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: prentice Hall.
• STEUP, Matthias (1988) “The Deontic Conception of Epistemic Justification”, Philosophical Studies 53, 65-84.