Single Idea 8798

[catalogued under 13. Knowledge Criteria / C. External Justification / 2. Causal Justification]

Full Idea

Visual experience is recognized as both the cause and the justification of our visual beliefs. But these are not wholly independent. Presumably the justification that something is red derives partly from the fact that it originates in visual experience.

Gist of Idea

Vision causes and justifies beliefs; but to some extent the cause is the justification

Source

Ernest Sosa (The Raft and the Pyramid [1980], §10)

Book Reference

'Epistemology - An Anthology', ed/tr. Sosa,E. /Kim,J. [Blackwell 2000], p.146


A Reaction

Yes, but the fact that certain visual experiences originate in dreams is taken as grounds for denying their truth, not affirming it. So why do we distinguish them? I am thinking that only in the 'space of reasons' can a cause become a justification.