Are There Counterexamples to the Consistency Principle?

Journal article

Littlejohn, Clayton. (2023). Are There Counterexamples to the Consistency Principle? Episteme. 20(4), pp. 852-869. https://doi.org/10.1017/epi.2024.5
AuthorsLittlejohn, Clayton
Abstract

Must rational thinkers have consistent sets of beliefs? I shall argue that it can be rational for a thinker to believe a set of propositions known to be inconsistent. If this is right, an important test for a theory of rational belief is that it allows for the right kinds of inconsistency. One problem we face in trying to resolve disagreements about putative rational requirements is that parties to the disagreement might be working with different conceptions of the relevant attitudes. My aim is modest. I hope to show that there is at least one important notion of belief such that a thinker might rationally hold a collection of beliefs (so understood) even when the thinker knows their contents entail a contradiction.

KeywordsRationality; knowledge; preface paradox; consistency; rational requirements; belief
Year01 Jan 2023
JournalEpisteme
Journal citation20 (4), pp. 852-869
PublisherCambridge University Press
ISSN1742-3600
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1017/epi.2024.5
Web address (URL)https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/episteme/article/are-there-counterexamples-to-the-consistency-principle/CBC925DA6FD3D15923D38A60768B6A7D
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
Research or scholarlyResearch
Page range852-869
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Print20 Mar 2024
Publication process dates
Accepted22 Jan 2024
Deposited24 Mar 2025
Additional information

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press.

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.

Place of publicationUnited Kingdom
Permalink -

https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/90wxy/are-there-counterexamples-to-the-consistency-principle

Log in to edit

Download files

Publisher's version
OA_Littlejohn_2024_Are_there_counterexamples_to_the_consistency.pdf
License: CC BY 4.0
File access level: Open

  • 5
    total views
  • 1
    total downloads
  • 5
    views this month
  • 1
    downloads this month
These values are for the period from 19th October 2020, when this repository was created.

Export as

Related outputs

Introduction
Lasonen-Aarnio, Maria and Littlejohn, Clayton. (2024). Introduction. In In Lasonen-Aarnio, Maria and Littlejohn, Clayton (Ed.). The Routledge handbook of the philosophy of evidence pp. 1-15 Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315672687-1
Does justification supervene on the internal?
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2024). Does justification supervene on the internal? In In Roeber, Blake, Sosa, Ernest, Steup, Matthias and Turri, John (Ed.). Contemporary debates in epistemology pp. 23-35 John Wiley & Sons, Inc..
Knowledge and prizes
Littlejohn, Clayton and Dutant, Julien. (2024). Knowledge and prizes. In In Logins, Artūrs and Vollet, Jacques-Henri (Ed.). Putting knowledge to work : New directions for knowledge-first epistemology pp. 284-307 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780191976766.003.0012
The ranges of reasons and creasons
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2023). The ranges of reasons and creasons. Asian Journal of Philosophy. 2(2), p. Article 75. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44204-023-00129-4
Absolutism and its Limits
Hawthorne, John Patrick, Isaacs, Yoaav and Littlejohn, Clayton. (2023). Absolutism and its Limits. Journal of Moral Philosophy. 105(20), pp. 170-189. https://doi.org/10.1163/17455243-20233831
Knowing the facts, alternative and otherwise
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2023). Knowing the facts, alternative and otherwise. In In Borges, Rodrigo and Schnee, Ian (Ed.). Illuminating Errors : New Essays on Knowledge from Non-Knowledge pp. 312 - 328 Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003118701-25
Externalism explained
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2023). Externalism explained. In In Oliveria, Luis R.G. (Ed.). Externalism about Knowledge pp. 353 - 376 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198866749.003.0014
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
Knowledge-First Theories of Justification
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2022). Knowledge-First Theories of Justification. In Propositional and Doxastic Justification: New Essays on Their Nature and Significance pp. 263-285 Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003008101-20
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
On what we should believe (and when (and why) we should believe what we know we should not believe)
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
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
Fake barns and false dilemmas
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2014). Fake barns and false dilemmas. Episteme. 11(4), pp. 369-389. https://doi.org/10.1017/epi.2014.24
Know your rights : On warranted assertion and truth
Littlejohn, Clayton. (2014). Know your rights : On warranted assertion and truth. Erkenntnis. 79(6), pp. 1355-1365. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-014-9603-3