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Abstract
Famously, William James held that there are two commandments that govern our epistemic life: Believe truth! Shun error! In this paper, I give a formal account of James' claim using the tools of epistemic utility theory. I begin by giving the account for categorical doxastic states-that is, full belief, full disbelief, and suspension of judgment. Then I will show how the account plays out for graded doxastic states-that is, credences. The latter part of the paper thus answers a question left open in Pettigrew (2014).
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 253-268 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Episteme |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Sep 2016 |
Structured keywords
- Centre for Science and Philosophy
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