What Does "Epistemic" Mean?

Allan Hazlett (University of Edinburgh)

Tues 4 Feb, 5.00pm
Room 243, second floor, Senate House, WC1

Allan Hazlett (Edinburgh)

What Does "Epistemic" Mean?

Abstract: The word "epistemic" is ubiquitous in contemporary philosophy, but its meaning is obscure. I argue that "epistemic" is ambiguous in two (related) ways. The first ambiguity is between the concept of the doxastic ("of or relating to belief") and the alethic ("of or relating to the goal of true belief"). The second ambiguity is between predicative and attributive interpretations of uses of (what I call) thick epistemic expressions, like "epistemic reason," "epistemically good," and "epistemic virtue."  This second ambiguity generates a troubling dilemma. I conclude by considering the prospects for eliminating "epistemic" from our philosophical vocabulary.
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If you would like to have dinner with the speaker on the evening of their talk please contact the LEM convenor, Dr Corine Besson: [email protected]

Spring 2014 Series: http://goo.gl/VjrHTp

Co-convenors: Dr Corine Besson (Sussex) and Robert Bassett.