Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T05:13:27.017Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Against epistemic pessimism about moral testimony

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2019

Paddy Jane McShane
Paddy Jane McShane*
Affiliation:
University of Portland, 5000 N. Willamette Blvd., Portland, Oregon97203, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

My aim in this paper is to argue against what I call “epistemic” pessimism about moral testimony. Epistemic pessimists argue that moral testimony fails to transmit epistemic warrant as non-moral testimony does. I reject epistemic pessimism by defending the No Difference Thesis, that there is no in principle difference between the transmission of epistemic warrant by moral and non-moral testimony. The main thrust of my argument is that there is a good prima facie case to be made for the thesis, namely, that it is supported by all of the major current epistemological views of testimonial warrant, both reductionist and non-reductionist. After making this case, I consider five pessimist attempts to undermine the No Difference Thesis, and argue that none of these attempts succeeds. So, in the absence of any other compelling criticisms, we are justified in rejecting epistemic pessimism and accepting the No Difference Thesis.

Keywords

Testimonymoral testimonymoral knowledgemoral epistemologymoral deference
Type
Article
Information
Episteme , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , June 2021 , pp. 200 - 223
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, J. 2012. ‘Epistemological Problems of Testimony.’ In Zalta, E.N. (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/testimony-episprob/#RedAntRedPre.Google Scholar
Audi, R. 1997. ‘The Place of Testimony in the Fabric of Knowledge and Justification.’ American Philosophical Quarterly 34 (4), 405–22.Google Scholar
Buckwalter, W. and Schaffer, J. 2013. ‘Knowledge, Stakes, and Mistakes.’ Noûs 47 (1), 201–34.Google Scholar
Burge, T. 1993. ‘Content Preservation.’ Philosophical Review 102, 457–488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cholbi, M. 2007. ‘Moral Expertise and the Credentials Problem.’ Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 10 (4), 323–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coady, C.A.J. 1992. Testimony: A Philosophical Study. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Crisp, R. 2014. ‘Moral Testimony Pessimism: A Defence.’ Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 88 (1), 129–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Driver, J. 2006. ‘Autonomy and the Asymmetry Problem for Moral Expertise.’ Philosophical Studies 128, 619–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enoch, D. 2014. ‘A Defense of Moral Deference.’ Journal of Philosophy 111 (5), 229–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fantl, J. and McGrath, M. 2002. ‘Evidence, Pragmatics, and Justification.’ Philosophical Review 111 (1), 67–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faulkner, P. 2006. ‘Understanding Knowledge Transmission.’ Ratio 19 (2), 156–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faulkner, P. 2011. Knowledge on Trust. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feltz, A. and Zarpentine, C. 2010. ‘Do You Know More When It Matters Less?’ Philosophical Psychology 23 (5), 683–706.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foley, R. 2001. Intellectual Trust in Oneself and Others. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fricker, E. 1994. ‘Against Gullibility.’ In Chakrabarti, A. and Matilal, B. K. (eds), Knowing from Words, pp. 125–61. Dordrecht: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gendler, T. 2011. ‘On the Epistemic Costs of Implicit Bias.’ Philosophical Studies 156 (1), 33–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbard, A. 2006. ‘Normative Properties.’ In Horgan, T. and Timmons, M. (eds), Metaethics after Moore, pp. 141–57. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Groll, D and Decker, J. 2014. ‘Moral Testimony: One of These Things Is Just Like the Others.’ Analytic Philosophy 55 (1), 54–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawthorne, J. 2004. Knowledge and Lotteries. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Hills, A. 2009. ‘Moral Testimony and Moral Epistemology.’ Ethics 120 (1), 94–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hills, A. 2013. ‘Moral Testimony.’ Philosophy Compass 8 (6), 552–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinchman, E. 2005. ‘Telling as Inviting to Trust.’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 70 (3), 567–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgson, R. 1959. The Skylark and Other Poems. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Hopkins, R. 2007. ‘What Is Wrong with Moral Testimony?’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 74 (3), 611–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huemer, M. 2006. Ethical Intuitionism. New York, NY: Palgrave-Macmillan.Google Scholar
Hume, D. 2000. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Ed. Beauchamp, T.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jones, K. 1999. ‘Second-Hand Moral Knowledge.’ Journal of Philosophy 96 (2), 55–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, T. 2005. ‘The Epistemic Significance of Disagreement.’ In Hawthorne, J. and Gendler, T. (eds), Oxford Studies in Epistemology, Vol. 1, pp. 167–96. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lackey, J. 2006. ‘It Takes Two to Tango: Beyond Reductionism and Non-Reductionism in the Epistemology of Testimony.’ In Lackey, J. and Sosa, E. (eds), The Epistemology of Testimony, pp. 160–89. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lackey, J. 2013. ‘Deficient Testimonial Knowledge.’ In Henning, T. and Schweikard, D. (eds), Knowledge, Virtue, and Action: Essays on Putting Epistemic Values to Work, pp. 30–52. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
McDowell, J. 1994. ‘Knowledge by Hearsay.’ In Matilal, B.K. and Chakrabarti, A. (eds), Knowing from Words: Western and Indian Philosophical Analysis of Understanding and Testimony, pp. 195–224. Amsterdam: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGrath, S. 2007. ‘Moral Disagreement and Moral Expertise.’ In Shafer-Landau, R. (ed.), Oxford Studies in Metaethics, Vol. 4, pp. 87–108. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McGrath, S. 2009. ‘The Puzzle of Pure Moral Deference.’ Philosophical Perspectives 23 (1), 321–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGrath, S. 2011. ‘Skepticism about Moral Expertise as a Puzzle for Moral Realism.’ Journal of Philosophy 108 (3), 111–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMyler, B. 2011. Testimony, Trust and Authority. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McShane, P.J. 2018a. ‘The Non-Remedial Value of Dependence on Moral Testimony.’ Philosophical Studies 175 (3), 629–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McShane, P.J. 2018b. ‘Moral Testimony and Moral Understanding.’ Journal of Moral Philosophy 15 (3), 245–71.Google Scholar
Moran, R. 2005. ‘Getting Told and Being Believed.’ Philosophers’ Imprint 5 (5), 1–29.Google Scholar
Nickel, P. 2001. ‘Moral Testimony and its Authority.’ Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 4 (3), 253–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pritchard, D. 2004. ‘The Epistemology of Testimony.’ Philosophical Issues 14 (1), 326–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, A. 1986. ‘Why Do We Believe What We Are Told?’ Ratio 1, 69–88.Google Scholar
Sliwa, P. 2012. ‘In Defense of Moral Testimony.’ Philosophical Studies 158 (2), 175–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiland, E. 2017. ‘Moral Testimony: Going on the Offensive.’ In Shafer-Landau, R. (ed.), Oxford Studies in Metaethics, Vol. 12. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar