Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

12-2014

Abstract

I argue that a Humean account can make sense of the phenomenology associated with testimonial justification; the phenomenology being that in standard cases hearers regularly simply accept a testifier’s assertions as true – hearers don't engage in monitoring. The upshot is that a Humean account is in a better position dialectically than is usually supposed. I provide some background to the debate before setting out two challenges facing accounts of testimonial justification. The first challenge is to provide an account that accords with the phenomenology of testimonial reception; the second challenge is to provide an account that can make sense of some testimonial beliefs enjoying greater justification than others. I show the credulist position to be vulnerable to the second challenge and the Humean position to be vulnerable to the first challenge. I argue that a Humean account, by drawing on dual process theory, can overcome the first challenge.

Keywords

Humean account, testimonial justification, phenomenology, acceptance, testifier, assertions, monitoring, dialectically, credulist position, dual process theory

Discipline

Epistemology

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

Logos and Episteme: An International Journal of Epistemology

Volume

5

Issue

2

First Page

209

Last Page

219

ISSN

2069-0533

Identifier

10.5840/logos-episteme20145216

Publisher

Institutul European

Additional URL

http://doi.org/10.5840/logos-episteme20145216

Included in

Epistemology Commons

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