Evidentialism and the Will to Believe

Evidentialism and the Will to Believe
Title Evidentialism and the Will to Believe PDF eBook
Author Scott Aikin
Publisher A&C Black
Pages 241
Release 2014-07-17
Genre Philosophy
ISBN 1623560179

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Work on the norms of belief in epistemology regularly starts with two touchstone essays: W.K. Clifford's "The Ethics of Belief" and William James's "The Will to Believe." Discussing the central themes from these seminal essays, Evidentialism and the Will to Believe explores the history of the ideas governing evidentialism. As well as Clifford's argument from the examples of the shipowner, the consequences of credulity and his defence against skepticism, this book tackles James's conditions for a genuine option and the structure of the will to believe case as a counter-example to Clifford's evidentialism. Exploring the question of whether James's case successfully counters Clifford's evidentialist rule for belief, this study captures the debate between those who hold that one should proportion belief to evidence and those who hold that the evidentialist norm is too restrictive. More than a sustained explication of the essays, it also surveys recent epistemological arguments to evidentialism. But it is by bringing Clifford and James into fruitful conversation for the first time that this study presents a clearer history of the issues and provides an important reconstruction of the notion of evidence in contemporary epistemology.

The Will to Believe

The Will to Believe
Title The Will to Believe PDF eBook
Author William James
Publisher
Pages 362
Release 1896
Genre Belief and doubt
ISBN

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The Ethics of Belief. [By William K. Clifford. A Paper Read Before the Metaphysical Society.]

The Ethics of Belief. [By William K. Clifford. A Paper Read Before the Metaphysical Society.]
Title The Ethics of Belief. [By William K. Clifford. A Paper Read Before the Metaphysical Society.] PDF eBook
Author
Publisher
Pages 8
Release 1876
Genre
ISBN

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Believing Against the Evidence

Believing Against the Evidence
Title Believing Against the Evidence PDF eBook
Author Miriam Schleifer McCormick
Publisher Routledge
Pages 159
Release 2014-10-30
Genre Philosophy
ISBN 1136682686

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The question of whether it is ever permissible to believe on insufficient evidence has once again become a live question. Greater attention is now being paid to practical dimensions of belief, namely issues related to epistemic virtue, doxastic responsibility, and voluntarism. In this book, McCormick argues that the standards used to evaluate beliefs are not isolated from other evaluative domains. The ultimate criteria for assessing beliefs are the same as those for assessing action because beliefs and actions are both products of agency. Two important implications of this thesis, both of which deviate from the dominant view in contemporary philosophy, are 1) it can be permissible (and possible) to believe for non-evidential reasons, and 2) we have a robust control over many of our beliefs, a control sufficient to ground attributions of responsibility for belief.

Evidence and Religious Belief

Evidence and Religious Belief
Title Evidence and Religious Belief PDF eBook
Author Kelly James Clark
Publisher OUP Oxford
Pages 224
Release 2011-07-28
Genre Philosophy
ISBN 0191619094

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A fundamental question in philosophy of religion is whether religious belief must be based on evidence in order to be properly held. In recent years two prominent positions on this issue have been staked out: evidentialism, which claims that proper religious belief requires evidence; and Reformed epistemology, which claims that it does not. Evidence and Religious Belief contains eleven chapters by prominent philosophers which push the discussion in new directions. The volume has three parts. The first part explores the demand for evidence: some chapters object to it while others seek to restate it or find space for compromise between Reformed epistemology and evidentialism. The second part explores ways in which beliefs are related to evidence; that is, ways in which the evidence for or against religious belief that is available to a person can depend on that person's background beliefs and other circumstances. The third part contains chapters that discuss actual evidence for and against religious belief. Evidence for belief in God includes the so-called common consent of the human race and the way that such belief makes sense of the moral life; evidence against it includes profound puzzles about divine freedom which suggest that it is impossible for a being to be morally perfect.

Evidentialism

Evidentialism
Title Evidentialism PDF eBook
Author Earl Conee
Publisher Oxford University Press
Pages 330
Release 2004
Genre Knowledge, Theory of
ISBN 0199253722

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Evidentialism is a theory of knowledge the essence of which is the traditional idea that the justification of factual knowledge is entirely a matter of evidence. The authors defend this theory, arguing evidentialism is an asset virtually everywhere in epistemology, from getting started to refuting skepticism.

Believing by Faith

Believing by Faith
Title Believing by Faith PDF eBook
Author John Bishop
Publisher Oxford University Press
Pages 263
Release 2007-04-12
Genre Philosophy
ISBN 019920554X

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Does our available evidence show that some particular religion is correct? It seems unlikely, given the great diversity of religious - and non-religious - views of the world. But if no religious beliefs can be shown true on the evidence, can it be right to make a religious commitment? Should people make 'leaps of faith'? Or would we all be better off avoiding commitments that outrun our evidence? And, if leaps of faith can be acceptable, how do we tell the difference between goodand bad ones - between sound religion and dogmatic ideology or fundamentalist fanaticism? Believing by Faith offers answers to these questions, inspired by a famous attempt to justify faith made by William James in 1896. In doing so, it engages critically with much recent discussion in the philosophyof religion, and, especially, the epistemology of religious belief.