Reconsidering normative defeat

Synthese 205 (5):1-15 (2025)
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Abstract

According to the Doctrine of Normative Defeat (‘the DND’), you may lose justification to believe that p if you fail to possess negatively relevant evidence that you ought to possess. This paper presents an objection to the DND as it’s standardly developed: it carries with it an absurd implication regarding how one’s knowledge can be restored once one’s associated epistemic justification is presumed to be normatively defeated. I defend the force of this objection before closing with a note about what my argument means for the DND's motivation.

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Nate Lauffer
Metropolitan State University of Denver

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