The epistemic use of ‘ought’

Book chapter

Hawthorne, John Patrick. (2021). The epistemic use of ‘ought’. In Conditionals, Probability & Paradox: Themes from the Philosophy of Dorothy Edgington pp. 164-173 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198712732.003.0010
AuthorsHawthorne, John Patrick
Abstract

A good deal of Dorothy Edgington’s work has involved fruitful applications of the probability calculus to philosophical subject matters—notably, conditionals and vagueness. This chapter forms part of a project of exploring the relevance of probability to various epistemic phenomena, including knowledge and epistemic modality. Its focus here is on certain epistemic uses of ‘ought’ and ‘should’. The chapter argues against flat-footed ways of grounding those concepts in the ideology of probability, although it makes room for certain other, less reductive, structural relationships between the two. The discussion involves various idealizations and simplifications. Nevertheless, it argues that flattened ordering sources are a useful tool for developing a broadly Kratzer-style treatment of least some uses of ‘ought’.

KeywordsEdgington; probability; epistemic modals; knowledge; Kratzer
Page range164-173
Year01 Jan 2021
Book titleConditionals, Probability & Paradox: Themes from the Philosophy of Dorothy Edgington
PublisherOxford University Press
Place of publicationUnited Kingdom
ISBN978-0-19-871273-2
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198712732.003.0010
Web address (URL)https://academic.oup.com/book/31931/chapter/267641856
Open accessPublished as non-open access
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OnlineJan 2021
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Deposited02 Feb 2024
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© John Patrick Hawthorne, 2021.

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