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The Proper Work of the Intellect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2019

NICK TREANOR Open the ORCID record for NICK TREANOR [Opens in a new window]
NICK TREANOR*
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Abstract

There is a familiar teleological picture of epistemic normativity on which it is grounded in the goal or good of belief, which is taken in turn to be the acquisition of truth and the avoidance of error. There is also a widespread platitude to the effect that this is at heart two distinct goals in tension with one another. The teleological picture faces numerous challenges, but one of the most interesting is an argument that rests on this platitude. This paper looks more closely at the standard way of understanding the truth goal, drawing out its explicit and implicit features. The aim will be to show that the standard way the truth goal is understood is deeply mistaken, to propose and defend an alternative model, and to show how this alternative model restores the unity of the goal and its potential to ground and explain the normative dimensions of belief.

Keywords

epistemic normativityepistemic valueveritismtruth consequentialismvirtue epistemology
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the American Philosophical Association , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , Spring 2019 , pp. 22 - 40
Copyright
Copyright © American Philosophical Association 2019 

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