Resistance to Evidence

Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-1-009-29852-0
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 210 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 481 g

Reihe: Cambridge Studies in Philosophy

We have increasingly sophisticated ways of acquiring and communicating knowledge, but efforts to spread this knowledge often encounter resistance to evidence. The phenomenon of resistance to evidence, while subject to thorough investigation in social psychology, is acutely under-theorized in the philosophical literature. Mona Simion's book is concerned with positive epistemology: it argues that we have epistemic obligations to update and form beliefs on available and undefeated evidence. In turn, one's resistance to easily available evidence is unpacked as an instance of epistemic malfunctioning. Simion develops a full positive, integrated epistemological picture, in conjunction with novel accounts of evidence, defeat, norms of inquiry, and permissible suspension, and disinformation. Her book is relevant for anyone with an interest in the nature of evidence and justified belief, and in the best ways to avoid the high-stakes practical consequences of evidence resistance in policy and practice.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Simion, Mona

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; Part I. The Epistemology and Psychology of Resistance to Evidence: 1. Resistance to evidence: triggers and epistemic status; 2. Evidence one has and the impermissibility of resistance; 3. Evidence you should have had and resistance; 4. Permissible suspension and evidence resistance; 5. Resistance to evidence, epistemic responsibility, and epistemic vice; Part II. Resistance to Evidence and Epistemic Proper Function: 6. Resistance to evidence as epistemic malfunction; 7. Evidence as knowledge indicators; 8. Defeaters as ignorance indicators; 9. Permissible suspensions and permissible withholdings; Part III. Theoretical Upshots: 10. Epistemic oughts and epistemic dilemmas; 11. Scepticism as resistance to evidence; 12. Knowledge and disinformation; Concluding remarks: the way forward in policy and practice; Bibliography; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Simion, Mona
Mona Simion is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the COGITO Epistemology Research Centre at the University of Glasgow. Her publications include Sharing Knowledge (Cambridge, 2021) and Shifty Speech and Independent Thought (2021).