Trust and Epistemic Authority

Zagzebski, Linda

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199936472.003.0006

Cited by 20 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…But if recent epistemology has taught us anything, it's that this total reboot is nothing but a pipe dream. Any sort of reasonable epistemic life is essentially impossible without trusting the testimony of others (Hardwig 1985, 1991; Burge 1993; Faulkner 2000; Goldberg 2010; Zagzebski 2012).…”

Section: Responsibility and The Possibility Of Escapementioning

confidence: 99%

Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles

Nguyen¹

2018

Episteme

439

238

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Discussion of the phenomena of post-truth and fake news often implicates the closed epistemic networks of social media. The recent conversation has, however, blurred two distinct social epistemic phenomena. An epistemic bubble is a social epistemic structure in which other relevant voices have been left out, perhaps accidentally. An echo chamber is a social epistemic structure from which other relevant voices have been actively excluded and discredited. Members of epistemic bubbles lack exposure to relevant information and arguments. Members of echo chambers, on the other hand, have been brought to systematically distrust all outside sources. In epistemic bubbles, other voices are not heard; in echo chambers, other voices are actively undermined. It is crucial to keep these phenomena distinct. First, echo chambers can explain the post-truth phenomena in a way that epistemic bubbles cannot. Second, each type of structure requires a distinct intervention. Mere exposure to evidence can shatter an epistemic bubble, but may actually reinforce an echo chamber. Finally, echo chambers are much harder to escape. Once in their grip, an agent may act with epistemic virtue, but social context will pervert those actions. Escape from an echo chamber may require a radical rebooting of one's belief system.

show abstract

Section: Responsibility and The Possibility Of Escapementioning

confidence: 99%

Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles

Nguyen¹

2018

Episteme

439

238

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In contrast, Zagzebski offers the Catholic a truly communal epistemology. In her volume, Epistemic Authority , she endorses Epistemic Universalism (Zagzebski, 2012, p. 58). Roughly, the idea is that S believing that p, gives S* prima facie reasons to also believe p. She further elaborates that S* is justified in accepting the testimony of S, if, S* is more likely to get to truth if she accepts the testimony than if she does not accept it.…”

Section: (Counter?) Reformed Epistemology and The Doctrine Of Faithmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analytic Catholic Epistemologies of Faith: A Survey of Developments

McNabb

2023

Philosophy Compass

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

If you were to take a time machine and travel back to the 1980s, Catholic epistemology would look drastically different than it does today, at least in analytic circles. One of those drastic changes relates to whether Catholic epistemology is consistent with Reformed epistemology. Another issue relates to whether St. Thomas Aquinas was a classical evidentialist. In this paper, I survey recent developments in Catholic epistemology. I do this by first looking at Gregory Stacey's recent work arguing the Catholic Church's teaching on faith is best situated in a Reformed epistemological framework. I then engage decades old objections to Reformed epistemology from a Catholic perspective. I respond to these objections partly by surveying recent work by Catholic epistemologists. The paper then takes a turn to look at the recent scholarship on Aquinas' epistemology. I show that there is now an emerging consensus that Aquinas belongs not to a hard evidentialist camp as it was previously thought, but rather an externalist friendly tradition.

show abstract

“…These desires include the desire to know and to do the good, to acquire not just knowledge, but understanding, to learn patterns of living and principles of action that result in a more integrated self, to be surrounded by grace and beauty, and to experience the delights of living among persons whose own pursuit of these ends enhances one's own. 38 such trust, we may be cutting ourselves off from the very possibility of arriving at the evidence needed to justify that trust, and of achieving the spiritual goods that vindicate it. If that is a paradox, it is a paradox which flows from the inescapable dependency that is part of what it is to be human.…”

Section: Authority and Contingencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Authority and Trust: Reflections on Linda Zagzebski's Epistemic Autohrity

Cottingham

2014

EJPR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Our modern egalitarian and individualistic age is suspicious of authority, and in recent times there have been almost daily reports in the press of cases where trust in various authorities, including financial, governmental, political and religious, has been found to have been abused or misplaced. Such disappointments seem to bolster the case for withholding trust in external authority and falling back on one’s own resources. But if the lessons from Linda Zagzebski’s groundbreaking work are accepted, 1 self- reliance turns out to be a confused and probably incoherent ideal (this is the critical or negative part of her thesis); and (more positively) the rational and self-reflective person is committed to believing and acting on authority. In the second half of this short discussion paper I shall raise some possible concerns about Zagzebski’s positive case for reliance on authority, focussing on the moral and religious spheres. First however, let me say something about the negative part of Zagzebski’s work, her critique of self-reliance. Since I find this wholly convincing, I shall confine myself to some supplementary observations, mainly to do with the historical context in which her critique is located.

show abstract

Trust and Epistemic Authority

Cited by 20 publications

References 0 publications

Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles

Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles

Analytic Catholic Epistemologies of Faith: A Survey of Developments

Authority and Trust: Reflections on Linda Zagzebski's Epistemic Autohrity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About