Abstract
The Equal Weight View holds that, when we discover we disagree with an epistemic
peer, we should give our peer’s judgment as much weight as our own. But how
should we respond when we cannot tell whether those who disagree with us
are our epistemic peers? I argue for a position I will call the Earn-a-Spine View.
According to this view, parties to a disagreement can remain confdent, at least
in some situations, by fnding justifable reasons to think their opponents are less
credible than themselves, even if those reasons are justifable only because they
lack information about their opponents.