Suppose two kids are brought up by their respective parents to believe radically different things about the world. Then they go to the same school where they are taught to become excellent reasoners and are exposed to a huge amount and wide variety of evidence about the way the world is. Will they--or more to the point, *should* they--come to share the same beliefs about the way the world is shortly thereafter?
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Not if epistemic conservatism is true. If rationality requires that we make minimal changes to our belief system to account for new evidence, then these two kids will not come to share very many beliefs about the way the world is for a long while.
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That means disagreement between epistemic peers is rational and to be expected.
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Huh. That's interesting. Maybe I should write a paper about this or something.
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3 comments:
You could!
... And you could call it ... oh ... "Two Dogmas of Empiricism," say ... Or you could write a series of lectures, publish them as a book and call the book "*Pragmatism*"! ;)
Seriously though. You should write this paper. You're right, and people do not generally notice this, that there's something very conservative about the family of epistemologies (pragmatism included) that make rationality a matter of accomodating recalitrant evidence with the minimum of disruption to the web of belief.
Do you think epistemologies can be inherently political? I do, but I'm surprised to hear the suggestion from you. But when you mention "epistemic conservatism," there are (intended?) political overtones.
If epistemology can be political, there's an interesting discrepancy between conservative/liberal ethical views, on the one hand, and (what we might reasonably see as) conservative/liberal epistemological views. In ethics, the "all we've got are our traditional beliefs" tack is conservative; in epistemology, by contrast, it is typically those who are politically liberal who take the view that rationality is about fitting the new beliefs with the old.
I'd be really interested in your paper if it made the case that a) epistemology is (can be?) inherently political, and b) those inclined towards conservative politics should choose Quine-esque theories of rationality.
But seriously folks ... isn't this blog supposed to be about family entertainment???
Jon, let's take this offline!
Alex
I am loving the humor and the recent updates to the website. It is so nice to keep in touch with your family and to feel still linked to the ice state after the short time we were there. We have now moved to PA where we plan to settle. PS. I do think you should write that paper--but please keep posting photos too. :)
Jill and Matt
So, then how long before husband and wife, brought up in separate households, begin to "share very many beliefs about the way the world is"? Inquiring minds want to know!
Dad
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