12413
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A 'warrant' is a process which ensures that a true belief is knowledge [Kitcher]
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Full Idea:
A 'warrant' refers to those processes which produce belief 'in the right way': X knows that p iff p, and X believes that p, and X's belief that p was produced by a process which is a warrant for it.
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From:
Philip Kitcher (The Nature of Mathematical Knowledge [1984], 01.2)
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A reaction:
That is, a 'warrant' is a justification which makes a belief acceptable as knowledge. Traditionally, warrants give you certainty (and are, consequently, rather hard to find). I would say, in the modern way, that warrants are agreed by social convention.
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20473
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If experiential can defeat a belief, then its justification depends on the defeater's absence [Kitcher, by Casullo]
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Full Idea:
According to Kitcher, if experiential evidence can defeat someone's justification for a belief, then their justification depends on the absence of that experiential evidence.
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From:
report of Philip Kitcher (The Nature of Mathematical Knowledge [1984], p.89) by Albert Casullo - A Priori Knowledge 2.3
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A reaction:
Sounds implausible. There are trillions of possible defeaters for most beliefs, but to say they literally depend on trillions of absences seems a very odd way of seeing the situation
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6944
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Demonstration does not rest on first principles of reason or sensation, but on freedom from actual doubt [Peirce]
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Full Idea:
It is a common idea that demonstration must rest on indubitable propositions, either first principles of a general nature, or first sensations; but actual demonstration is completely satisfactory if it starts from propositions free from all actual doubt.
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From:
Charles Sanders Peirce (The Fixation of Belief [1877], p.11)
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A reaction:
Another nice example of Peirce focusing on the practical business of thinking, rather than abstract theory. I agree with this approach, that explanation and proof do not aim at perfection and indubitability, but at what satisfies a critical mind.
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6945
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Once doubt ceases, there is no point in continuing to argue [Peirce]
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Full Idea:
Some people seem to love to argue a point after all the world is fully convinced of it. But no further advance can be made. When doubt ceases, mental action on the subject comes to an end; and, if it did go on, it would be without purpose.
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From:
Charles Sanders Peirce (The Fixation of Belief [1877], p.11)
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A reaction:
This is the way Peirce's pragmatism, which deals with how real thinking actually works (rather than abstract logic), deals with scepticism. However, there is a borderline where almost everyone is satisfied, but the very wise person remains sceptical.
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