Evolution and Knowledge

Type Thesis

Rate 0.0 /5

Details

Files

Reviews

Download

Summary

Evolutionary Debunking Arguments (EDAs) are arguments that use considerations from evolutionary science to raise doubts about some broad class of beliefs, such as moral beliefs, religious beliefs, object beliefs, or all beliefs. A given EDA will attack some particular positive epistemic status (such as justification, warrant, rational belief, true belief, knowledge, etc.) for some class of beliefs for some class of people. I attempt to synthesize and taxonomize various EDAs in various domains, and to defend the most powerful versions against common objections. I argue that powerful EDAs can be formulated that appeals to higher-order evidence against the epistemic safety of all human beliefs. I argue that these EDAs can be resisted only by appeal to one of a handful of controversial theses. Accordingly, I argue that EDAs should drive positive philosophy: they should push us to adopt philosophical positions that we otherwise might not.

Edition Statements

Publication Date:2021

Thesis Information

Degree:Ph.D.
University:Saint Louis University
Advisor/Supervisor:Greco, John
Pages:318

Publication Statements

Language:eng
Publication Date:2021

Edition Identifiers

proquest:2572610033

Subjects

eng Epistemic safety epistemology EVOLUTION (DEVELOPMENT) Evolutionary debunking Higher-order evidence PDF Psychology Self-defeating arguments Skepticism