Genealogy of belief : you just believe that because... / editor, Yuval Avnur ; senior editors: Peter A. French, Howard K. Wettstein.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Avnur, Yuval, editor.

French, Peter A., editor.

Wettstein, Howard K., editor.

Series:

Midwest studies in philosophy ; 0363-6550 v. 47.

Midwest studies in philosophy, 0363-6550 ; volume 47, 2023

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy.

Knowledge, Theory of.

Belief and doubt.

Physical Description:

271 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Charlottesville, VA : Philosophy Documentation Center, [2023]

Summary:

Epistemologists are interested in different kinds of problem about belief. The classic example is the radical skeptical challenge to all of our beliefs, or all beliefs about the external world. But there are plenty of other epistemological problems discussed these days, such as disagreement between peers and epistemic injustice. This volume focuses on another kind of problem for belief, which concerns its causal history or genealogy. It is no coincidence that you believe the things you do. Your beliefs are the result of what you are, where you have been, and what you have been through. When evaluating some belief, whether one's own or someone else's, such facts can be relevant. Often, the fact that a belief is the result of some particular process is taken to reflect negatively on the belief. Such criticism might typically take the form of an accusation that "You just believe that because . . ." which is then followed by a description of the relevant process. Of course, not all processes reflect negatively on belief. You believe that London is in England because you've read about it, seen it on many maps, and perhaps have been there yourself. There is nothing wrong with that. But some processes are thought to be an epistemic problem. What exactly characterizes problematic genealogies is a major question for philosophers working in this area.

Contents:

Genealogical defeat and ontological sparsity / Jonathan Barker

Debunking debunking : explanationism, probabilistic sensitivity, and why there is no specifically metacognitive debunking principle / David Bourget and Angela Mendelovici

You just believe that because ... it's a hinge / Annalisa Coliva

From moral realism to axiarchism : a metaphysical response to the debunking challenge / Brian Cutter

Should we be genealogically anxious? From anxiety to epistemic agency and critical resistance / Catarina Dutilh Novaes

Modal security and evolutionary debunking / Daniel Z. Korman and Dustin Locke

On the relevance of etiology to justification (with reference to Marx and Nietzsche) / Brian Leiter

Genealogy beyond debunking / Alexander Prescott-Couch

Debunking concepts / Matthieu Queloz

Truth within reason / David Sosa

Suspiciously convenient beliefs and the pathologies of (epistemollogical) ideal theory / Alex Worsnip.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781634350839

1634350839

OCLC:

1431202669