ECOM Speaker Series: Matthew Chrisman

Matthew Chrisman (University of Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh)

ECOM is delighted to host Prof. Matthew Christman! He will present a talk titled “Transparency and Sociality of Belief”. 
(The talk will be in hybrid format, the Zoom link will be shared a day before the talk.)

“Transparency and Sociality of Belief”

Abstract: A prominent view holds that our beliefs are transparent, in the sense that one should, and normally will, answer the question “Do you believe p?” by seeking to settle the corresponding question about whether p. Transparency is held to be a normative requirement and also crucial to understanding the distinctively authoritative and secure nature of knowledge of one’s own beliefs. In this paper, we argue that the transparency requirement, as well as our authoritative and secure self-knowledge of our beliefs, should be explained by something else: the social role belief. We hold that to believe p transparently is to be prepared to contribute p to shared reasoning with others, and to self-ascribe the belief that p transparently is to make explicit that one would contribute p to shared reasoning. We conclude that understanding our normative epistemic relationships to other people is fundamental to explaining distinctive features of knowledge of our own beliefs.