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Disagreement, design, and Thomas Reid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

René van Woudenberg*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, VU University, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract

This paper argues that Reid's first principle of design can be more widely accepted then one might suppose, due to the fact that it specifies no marks of design. Also it is explicated that the relation of the principle, on the one hand, and properly basic design beliefs on the other, is a relation of presupposition. It is furthermore suggested that Reid's discussion of what can be done in case of disagreement about first principles points to a position that is relevant to the current debates in the Epistemology of Disagreement literature and that merits further elaboration.

Type
Mind, Language, Metaphysics
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2011

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