Abstract
We articulate John Dewey’s “independent factors” approach to moral
philosophy and then adapt and extend this approach to address
contemporary debate concerning the nature and sources of epistemic
normativity. We identify three factors (agent reliability, synchronic
rationality, and diachronic rationality) as each making a permanent
contribution to epistemic value. Critical of debates that stem from the
reductionistic ambitions of epistemological systems that privilege of
one or another of these three factors, we advocate an axiological
pluralism that acknowledges each factor as an independent “spring”
of epistemic value within responsible inquiry.