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3 ideas
5937 | The goodness of opinions depends on their grounds, and corresponding degrees of conviction [Ross] |
Full Idea: A state of opinion is good because of its degree of groundedness, and because the degree of conviction corresponds to the degree of groundedness. | |
From: W. David Ross (The Right and the Good [1930], §VI) | |
A reaction: This is an early statement (from an ethical intuitionist) of what are now called the 'epistemic virtues'. It seems impossible to prove that these characteristics make an opinion good, but it also seems hard to deny either of them. |
15372 | Some claim that indicative conditionals are believed by people, even though they are not actually held true [Horsten] |
Full Idea: In the debate about doxastic attitudes towards indicative conditional sentences, one finds philosophers who claim that conditionals can be believed even though they have no truth value (and thus are not true). | |
From: Leon Horsten (The Tarskian Turn [2011], 09.3) |
5936 | Knowledge is superior to opinion because it is certain [Ross] |
Full Idea: Knowledge is superior in value to opinion because it has certainty or complete absence of doubt. | |
From: W. David Ross (The Right and the Good [1930], §VI) | |
A reaction: This strikes me as a classic blunder, dating back to Descartes, which I think of as 'setting the bar too high'. It leads without fail to scepticism, because certainty is simply impossible for human beings. I am a committed fallibilist about knowledge. |