On what we should believe (and when (and why) we should believe what we know we should not believe)

Book chapter


Littlejohn, Clayton. (2020). On what we should believe (and when (and why) we should believe what we know we should not believe). In In McCain, Kevin and Stapleford, Scott (Ed.). Epistemic duties : New arguments, new angles pp. 191-207 Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429030215-15
AuthorsLittlejohn, Clayton
EditorsMcCain, Kevin and Stapleford, Scott
Abstract

A theory of what we should believe should include a theory of what we should believe when we are uncertain about what we should believe and/or uncertain about the factors that determine what we should believe. This chapter presents a novel theory of what we should believe that gives externalists a way of responding to a suite of objections having to do with various kinds of error, ignorance, and uncertainty. This theory is inspired by recent work in ethical theory in which non-consequentialists ‘consequentialize’ their theories and then use the tools of decision-theory to give us an account of what we ought (in some derivative sense) to do when we’re uncertain about what we ought (in some primary sense) to do. Because what we ought to do is acquire knowledge and avoid ignorance, we (subjectively) ought to believe if the probability of being in a position to know is sufficiently high. This view has a number of important virtues. Among them, it gives us a unified story about how defeaters defeat, explains puzzling intuitions about the differences between lottery cases, preface cases, and cases of perceptual knowledge, and provides a general framework for thinking about subjective normativity.

Page range191-207
Year2020
Book titleEpistemic duties : New arguments, new angles
PublisherRoutledge
Place of publicationNew York, NY
London, United Kingdom
SeriesRoutledge studies in epistemology
ISBN9780367141103
9780429030215
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429030215-15
Open accessPublished as green open access
Author's accepted manuscript
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Open
Publisher's version
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Controlled
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Print2021
Online12 Oct 2020
Publication process dates
Deposited14 Jun 2022
Permalink -

https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/8xy49/on-what-we-should-believe-and-when-and-why-we-should-believe-what-we-know-we-should-not-believe

Download files


Author's accepted manuscript
AM_Littlejohn_2020_On_what_we_should_believe_and.pdf
License: All rights reserved
File access level: Open

Restricted files

Publisher's version

  • 65
    total views
  • 23
    total downloads
  • 4
    views this month
  • 2
    downloads this month
These values are for the period from 19th October 2020, when this repository was created.

Export as

Related outputs

What is rational belief?
Dutant, Julien and Littlejohn, Clayton. (2023). What is rational belief? Nous. pp. 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1111/nous.12456
This is epistemology : An introduction
Carter, J.Adam and Littlejohn, Clayton. (2021). This is epistemology : An introduction Wiley-Blackwell.
Knowledge, justification, belief, and suspension
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2021). Knowledge, justification, belief, and suspension. Philosophical Topics. 49(2), pp. 371-384. https://doi.org/10.5840/PHILTOPICS202149230
Justified belief and just conviction
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2021). Justified belief and just conviction. In In Hoskins, Zachary and Robson, Jon (Ed.). The social epistemology of legal trials pp. 106-123 Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429283123-7
Neither/nor
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2021). Neither/nor. In In Doyle, Casey, Milburn, Joe and Pritchard, Duncan (Ed.). New issues in epistemological disjunctivism pp. 215-240 Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315106243-11
Even if it might not be true, evidence cannot be false
Littlejohn, Clayton and Dutant, Julien. (2021). Even if it might not be true, evidence cannot be false. Philosophical Studies. 179(3), pp. 801-827. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-021-01695-0
Eleven angry men
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2021). Eleven angry men. Philosophical issues. 31(1), pp. 227-239. https://doi.org/10.1111/phis.12197
Defeaters as indicators of ignorance
Dutant, Julien and Littlejohn, Clayton. (2020). Defeaters as indicators of ignorance. In In Brown, Jessica and Simion, Mona (Ed.). Reasons, justification, and defeat pp. 223-246 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198847205.003.0010
Should we be dogmatically conciliatory?
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2020). Should we be dogmatically conciliatory? Philosophical Studies. 177(5), pp. 1381-1398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-019-01258-4
Truth, knowledge, and the standard of proof in criminal law
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2020). Truth, knowledge, and the standard of proof in criminal law. Synthese. 197(12), pp. 5253-5286. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-017-1608-4
Justification, knowledge, and normality
Littlejohn, Clayton and Dutant, Julien. (2020). Justification, knowledge, and normality. Philosophical Studies. 177(6), pp. 1593-1609. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-019-01276-2
Being more realistic about reasons : On rationality and reasons perspectivism
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2019). Being more realistic about reasons : On rationality and reasons perspectivism. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 99(3), pp. 605-627. https://doi.org/10.1111/phpr.12518
Reasons and theoretical rationality
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2018). Reasons and theoretical rationality. In In Star, Daniel (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of reasons and normativity pp. 529-552 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199657889.013.24
Objectivism and subjectivism in epistemology
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2018). Objectivism and subjectivism in epistemology. In In Mitova, Veli (Ed.). The factive turn in epistemology pp. 142-160 Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316818992.009
Knowledge, reason, and errors about error theory
Côté-Bouchard, Charles and Littlejohn, Clayton. (2018). Knowledge, reason, and errors about error theory. In In Kyriacou, Christos and McKenna, Robin (Ed.). Metaepistemology : Realism and anti-realism pp. 147-171 Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93369-6
The right in the good : A defense of teleological non-consequentialism
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2018). The right in the good : A defense of teleological non-consequentialism. In In Ahlstrom-Vij, H. Kristoffer and Dunn, Jeffrey (Ed.). Epistemic consequentialism pp. 23-47 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198779681.003.0002
Standing in a garden of forking
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2018). Standing in a garden of forking. In In McCain, Kevin (Ed.). Believing in accordance with the evidence : New essays on evidentialism pp. 223-243 Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95993-1_13
Evidence and its limits
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2018). Evidence and its limits. In In McHugh, Conor, Way, Jonathan and Whiting, Daniel (Ed.). Normativity : Epistemic and practical pp. 115-136 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198758709.003.0007
Knowledge and normativity
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2018). Knowledge and normativity. In In Hetherington, Stephen and Valaris, Markos (Ed.). Knowledge in contemporary philosophy pp. 249-268 Bloomsbury Publishing. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474258814.ch-013
Moore’s Paradox and assertion
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2018). Moore’s Paradox and assertion. In In Goldberg, Sanford (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of Assertion pp. 707-725 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190675233.013.12
Just do it? When to do what you judge you ought to do
Dutant, Julien and Littlejohn, Clayton. (2018). Just do it? When to do what you judge you ought to do. Synthese. 195(9), pp. 3755-3772. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-016-1220-z
Stop making sense? On a puzzle about rationality
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2018). Stop making sense? On a puzzle about rationality. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 96(2), pp. 257-272. https://doi.org/10.1111/phpr.12271
How and why knowledge is first
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2017). How and why knowledge is first. In Knowledge first : Approaches in epistemology and mind pp. 19-45 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198716310.003.0002
When ignorance is no excuse
Alvarez, Maria and Littlejohn, Clayton. (2017). When ignorance is no excuse. In In Robichaud, Philip and Wieland, Jan Willem (Ed.). Responsibility : The epistemic condition pp. 1-22 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198779667.001.0001
Small stakes give you the blues: The skeptical costs of pragmatic encroachment
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2017). Small stakes give you the blues: The skeptical costs of pragmatic encroachment. Manuscrito: revista internacional de filosofia. 40(4), pp. 31-38. https://doi.org/10.1590/0100-6045.2017.v40n4.cl
La verdad en el Gnosticismo : The truth in gnosticism
Littlejohn, Clayde. (2016). La verdad en el Gnosticismo : The truth in gnosticism. Análisis. 3(2), pp. 217-241. https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_arif/a.rif.201621568
Learning from learning from our mistakes
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2016). Learning from learning from our mistakes. In In Grajner, Martin and Schmechtig, Pedro (Ed.). Epistemic reasons, norms and goals pp. 51-70 Walter de Gruyter GmbH. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110496765-004
Do reasons and evidence share the same residence?
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2016). Do reasons and evidence share the same residence? Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 93(3), pp. 720-727. https://doi.org/10.1111/phpr.12350
Pritchard's reasons
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2016). Pritchard's reasons. Journal of Philosophical Research. 41, pp. 201-219. https://doi.org/10.5840/jpr201672277
Who cares what you accurately believe?
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2015). Who cares what you accurately believe? Philosophical Perspectives. 29(1), pp. 217-248. https://doi.org/10.1111/phpe.12064