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Single Idea 4260
[filed under theme 13. Knowledge Criteria / C. External Justification / 10. Anti External Justification
]
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.
The
41 ideas
from Laurence Bonjour
3695
|
Philosophy is a priori if it is anything
[Bonjour]
|
3696
|
A priori justification requires understanding but no experience
[Bonjour]
|
3697
|
The concept of possibility is prior to that of necessity
[Bonjour]
|
3698
|
Indeterminacy of translation is actually indeterminacy of meaning and belief
[Bonjour]
|
3699
|
The induction problem blocks any attempted proof of physical statements
[Bonjour]
|
3701
|
Externalist theories of justification don't require believers to have reasons for their beliefs
[Bonjour]
|
3702
|
Externalism means we have no reason to believe, which is strong scepticism
[Bonjour]
|
3700
|
Coherence can't be validated by appeal to coherence
[Bonjour]
|
3704
|
Moderate rationalists believe in fallible a priori justification
[Bonjour]
|
3703
|
You can't explain away a priori justification as analyticity, and you can't totally give it up
[Bonjour]
|
3651
|
Perceiving necessary connections is the essence of reasoning
[Bonjour]
|
3706
|
A priori justification can vary in degree
[Bonjour]
|
3707
|
Our rules of thought can only be judged by pure rational insight
[Bonjour]
|
3708
|
All thought represents either properties or indexicals
[Bonjour]
|
3709
|
Induction must go beyond the evidence, in order to explain why the evidence occurred
[Bonjour]
|
4255
|
Externalist theories of knowledge are one species of foundationalism
[Bonjour]
|
4261
|
The Lottery Paradox says each ticket is likely to lose, so there probably won't be a winner
[Bonjour, by PG]
|
4257
|
The big problem for foundationalism is to explain how basic beliefs are possible
[Bonjour]
|
4256
|
The main argument for foundationalism is that all other theories involve a regress leading to scepticism
[Bonjour]
|
4258
|
Extreme externalism says no more justification is required than the truth of the belief
[Bonjour]
|
4260
|
Even if there is no obvious irrationality, it may be irrational to base knowledge entirely on external criteria
[Bonjour]
|
4259
|
External reliability is not enough, if the internal state of the believer is known to be irrational
[Bonjour]
|
21506
|
A coherence theory of justification can combine with a correspondence theory of truth
[Bonjour]
|
21508
|
Anomalies challenge the claim that the basic explanations are actually basic
[Bonjour]
|
21509
|
There will always be a vast number of equally coherent but rival systems
[Bonjour]
|
21511
|
A well written novel cannot possibly match a real belief system for coherence
[Bonjour]
|
21510
|
The objection that a negated system is equally coherent assume that coherence is consistency
[Bonjour]
|
21503
|
Empirical coherence must attribute reliability to spontaneous experience
[Bonjour]
|
21505
|
A coherent system can be justified with initial beliefs lacking all credibility
[Bonjour]
|
21504
|
The best explanation of coherent observations is they are caused by and correspond to reality
[Bonjour]
|
8887
|
It is hard to give the concept of 'self-evident' a clear and defensible characterization
[Bonjour]
|
8888
|
The concept of knowledge is so confused that it is best avoided
[Bonjour]
|
8889
|
Reliabilists disagree over whether some further requirement is needed to produce knowledge
[Bonjour]
|
8890
|
If the reliable facts producing a belief are unknown to me, my belief is not rational or responsible
[Bonjour]
|
8891
|
My incoherent beliefs about art should not undermine my very coherent beliefs about physics
[Bonjour]
|
8892
|
Coherence seems to justify empirical beliefs about externals when there is no external input
[Bonjour]
|
8894
|
Coherentists must give a reason why coherent justification is likely to lead to the truth
[Bonjour]
|
8893
|
For any given area, there seem to be a huge number of possible coherent systems of beliefs
[Bonjour]
|
8895
|
If neither the first-level nor the second-level is itself conscious, there seems to be no consciousness present
[Bonjour]
|
8896
|
Conscious states have built-in awareness of content, so we know if a conceptual description of it is correct
[Bonjour]
|
8897
|
The adverbial account will still be needed when a mind apprehends its sense-data
[Bonjour]
|