Reducing Responsibility: An Evidentialist Account of Epistemic Blame

Abstract

This paper defends the epistemological importance of 'diachronic' or cross-temporal evaluation of epistemic agents against an interesting dilemma posed for this view in Trent Dougherty's recent paper "Reducing Responsibility." This is primarily a debate between evidentialists and character epistemologists, and key issues of contention that the paper treats include the divergent functions of synchronic and diachronic (longitudinal) evaluations of agents and their beliefs, the nature and sources of epistemic normativity, and the advantages versus the costs of the evidentialists' reductionism about sources of epistemic normativity.

Religious Epistemology

“…We've tried to state this more succinctly and less technically. For further discussion, see Dougherty (2011a). Locke and others add a proportionality thesis: We should believe a proposition only to the degree that it is supported by our evidence.…”

“…Epistemic evidentialism also has contemporary adherents among religious believers, including Richard Swinburne (), (), Stephen Wykstra (), William Lane Craig (), Trent Dougherty (), (), (), (), C. Stephen Evans (), 3–4, (), 39, and Paul Moser () . Swinburne, for example, has offered probabilistic and cumulative case arguments for the existence of God.…”

“…We've defined evidentialism without committing to the stronger proportionality thesis, but it is a natural extension, given the gradedness of belief. 21 For recent work on the problem of evil, see Dougherty (2011b), (2013) and Dougherty and Draper (2013). For recent work on divine hiddenness, see Howard-Snyder and Moser (2001) and Dougherty and Parker (forthcoming).…”

“… For recent work on the problem of evil, see Dougherty (), () and Dougherty and Draper (). For recent work on divine hiddenness, see Howard‐Snyder and Moser () and Dougherty and Parker (forthcoming).…”

Evidence One Does Not Possess

“…Cf. Hall and Johnson (1988) for proponents, Dougherty (2012;2014) for criticism, and Haack (1997) for more on the conceptual landscape.…”