The ethics of belief : individual and social / edited by Jonathan Matheson and Rico Vitz.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Matheson, Jonathan, editor.

Vitz, Rico, editor.

Rev. C. P. Krauth Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Belief and doubt--Moral and ethical aspects.

Belief and doubt.

Physical Description:

xv, 336 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2014.

Summary:

How do people form beliefs, and how should they do so? This book presents seventeen new essays on these questions, drawing together perspectives from philosophy and psychology. The first section explores the ethics of belief from an individualistic framework. It begins by examining the question of doxastic voluntarism-i.e., the extent to which people have control over their beliefs. It then shifts to focusing on the kinds of character that epistemic agents should cultivate, what their epistemic ends ought to be, and the way in which these issues are related to other traditional questions in epistemology. The section concludes by examining questions of epistemic value, of whether knowledge is in some sense primary, and of whether the ethics of belief falls within the domain of epistemology or ethics. The second section extends this traditional debate to issues concerning the social dimensions of belief formation. It begins with essays by social psychologists discussing the past three decades of research in 'lay epistemics'. It continues by examining Humean, Kantian, and feminist insights into the social aspects of belief formation, as well as questions concerning the ethics of assertion. The section concludes with a series of essays examining a topic that is currently of great interest to epistemologists: namely, the significance of peer disagreement.

Contents:

Part I The Ethics of Belief: Individual

1 The Powers that Bind: Doxastic Voluntarism and Epistemic Obligation / Neil Levy Levy, Neil, Eric Mandelbaum Mandelbaum, Eric 15

2 Deciding to Believe Redux / Andrei A. Buckareff Buckareff, Andrei A. 33

3 Varieties of Epistemic Vice / Heather Battaly Battaly, Heather 51

4 Knowledge and Time: Kripke's Dogmatism Paradox and the Ethics of Belief / Ernest Sosa Sosa, Ernest 77

5 Can there be a Knowledge-First Ethics of Belief? / Dennis Whitcomb Whitcomb, Dennis 89

6 Truth as the Fundamental Epistemic Good / Duncan Pritchard Pritchard, Duncan 112

7 Wide-Scope Requirements and the Ethics of Belief / Berit Brogaard Brogaard, Berit 130

8 The 'Ethics of Belief' is Ethics (Period): Reassigning Responsibilism / Trent Dougherty Dougherty, Trent 146

Part II The Ethics of Belief: Social

9 The Psychology of Knowledge Formation: Its Impetus, Mechanism, and Social Context / Arie W. Kruglanski Kruglanski, Arie W., Lauren M. Boyatzi Boyatzi, Lauren M. 169

10 Perspectives on Social Knowledge / Mark Dechesne Dechesne, Mark, Charlotte de Roon Roon, Charlotte de 184

11 Contagion, Community, and Virtue in Hume's Epistemology / Rico Vitz Vitz, Rico 198

12 Understanding Epistemic Normativity in Feminist Epistemology / Heidi Grasswick Grasswick, Heidi 216

13 The Commonwealth of Epistemic Ends / Catherine Z. Elgin Elgin, Catherine Z. 244

14 Assertion and the Ethics of Belief / Sanford Goldberg Goldberg, Sanford 261

15 Evidence of Evidence is Evidence / Richard Feldman Feldman, Richard 284

16 Believers as Thermometers / Thomas Kelly Kelly, Thomas 301

17 Disagreement: Idealized and Everyday / Jonathan Matheson Matheson, Jonathan 315.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rev. C. P. Krauth Fund.

ISBN:

0199686521

9780199686520

OCLC:

869726234

Publisher Number:

99961810620