Higher‐Order Evidence and the Limits of Defeat
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 88 (2):314-345 (2014)
Abstract
Recent authors have drawn attention to a new kind of defeating evidence commonly referred to as
higher-order evidence. Such evidence works by inducing doubts that one’s doxastic state is the
result of a flawed process – for instance, a process brought about by a reason-distorting drug. I
argue that accommodating defeat by higher-order evidence requires a two-tiered theory of
justification, and that the phenomenon gives rise to a puzzle. The puzzle is that at least in some
situations involving higher-order defeaters the correct epistemic rules issue conflicting
recommendations. For instance, a subject ought to believe p, but she ought also to suspend
judgment in p. I discuss three responses. The first resists the puzzle by arguing that there is only
one correct epistemic rule, an Über-rule. The second accepts that there are genuine epistemic
dilemmas. The third appeals to a hierarchy or ordering of correct epistemic rules. I spell out
problems for all of these responses. I conclude that the right lesson to draw from the puzzle is that
a state can be epistemically rational or justified even if one has what looks to be strong evidence
to think that it is not. As such, the considerations put forth constitute a non question-begging
argument for a kind of externalism.
Keywords
Categories
(categorize this paper)
PhilPapers/Archive ID
LASHEA
Upload history
Archival date: 2014-01-20
View other versions
View other versions
Added to PP index
2014-01-20
Total views
984 ( #4,150 of 58,454 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
83 ( #8,000 of 58,454 )
2014-01-20
Total views
984 ( #4,150 of 58,454 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
83 ( #8,000 of 58,454 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads since first upload
This graph includes both downloads from PhilArchive and clicks on external links on PhilPapers.