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Full Idea
It may be that where there are no positive grounds for a charge of irrationality, the acceptance of a belief with only external justification is still subjectively irrational in a sense that rules out its being epistemologically justified.
Gist of Idea
Even if there is no obvious irrationality, it may be irrational to base knowledge entirely on external criteria
Source
Laurence Bonjour (Externalist Theories of Empirical Knowledge [1980], §IV)
Book Ref
'Epistemology: Internalism and Externalism', ed/tr. Kornblith,Hilary [Blackwell 2001], p.20
A Reaction
A key objection. Surely rational behaviour requires a judgement to be made before a belief is accepted? If you are consistently clairvoyant, you must ask why.
| 8815 | Belief externalism is false, because external considerations cannot be internalized for actual use [Pollock] |
| 3702 | Externalism means we have no reason to believe, which is strong scepticism [Bonjour] |
| 4260 | Even if there is no obvious irrationality, it may be irrational to base knowledge entirely on external criteria [Bonjour] |
| 8852 | In the context of scepticism, externalism does not seem to be an option [Williams,M] |
| 19733 | Externalist theories don't explain why knowledge has value [Greco] |
| 19495 | Epistemic externalism struggles to capture the idea of epistemic responsibility [Pritchard,D] |
| 19711 | Externalism makes the acquisition of knowledge too easy? [Vahid] |