Base_Six OP t1_jcbw6yg wrote
Reply to comment by N0_IDEA5 in The Folly of Knowledge: why we should favor belief as the focus of our epistemology by Base_Six
The question I would ask is: "Can Norman describe his belief as knowledge?" We can do so in this scenario, but only because of our position as an omniscient outsider. Norman does not have that sort of privileged information.
The relevant question for Norman is what he ought to believe on the basis of the evidence he has. He's got his clairvoyant feelings and some other conflicting external evidence. He can give credence to one or both of those and construct a belief appropriately, which he'll likely do on the basis of other beliefs. In this case, the most reasonable belief in absence of other supporting beliefs (supposing Norman values his clairvoyance) is perhaps a middle position: the President is either in New York or the president is in Florida.
On the other hand, if Norman possesses an evidence-based belief that clairvoyance is impossible, he might dismiss his clairvoyant feelings and conclude that the president is in Florida. Norman would possess a reasonable belief in this case, even if his manifest clairvoyance was in fact accurate. If Norman were to gain additional evidence that the president was in fact in New York (such as a first-hand sighting), he'd be reasonable in revising that belief and in giving more credence to further clairvoyant experiences.
We can categorize Norman's belief as knowledge or non-knowledge in all of these scenarios based on privileged information, but Norman cannot, and Norman's case represents the baseline we should consider when assessing our own beliefs. We can't say if our beliefs amount to knowledge since we aren't omniscient, but we can say if they're reasonable.
N0_IDEA5 t1_jcc3094 wrote
Sure we are omnipotent in this scenario, but I feel there’s ways to put us into the hypothetical. Perhaps later reports come out to show the president actually was in New York. I feel it irksome to say Norman knew the president was in Florida until the evidence pointing to him being in New York out weighed it, when Norman also had that clairvoyant feeling. But I do think the notion of reasonability is getting somewhere, I just still feel the pull of truth being necessary.
Base_Six OP t1_jccc12a wrote
I think the pull of truth is what motivates Norman's introspection: what he ultimately desires is a true belief, not one which is coherent. At each step, he assesses the evidence in light of that goal, and constructs the belief that is the most reasonable approximation he can make of the truth.
Irrespective of knowledge, it feels correct to say that Norman had a reasonable belief the the president was in Florida until he got more evidence. It also makes sense for Norman to characterize his beliefs as reasonable without the need to invoke an outside observer. That belief is grounded in truth as a goal, but ultimately independent of the actual facts in the matter.
Suppose we say that Norman is actually a brain in a vat, and that the president was a figment constructed by alien epistemologists experimenting on his perception. This doesn't and can't change his beliefs since it doesn't alter his evidence: his beliefs are still reasonable since they're the best approximation of truth he's capable of constructing. Norman can never say for sure if any evidence he gets is actually indicative of the truth, but he's still capable of engaging rationally with his evidence in an attempt to seek it out.
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