Defeaters and Higher-Level Requirements

• Published in: The Philosophical quarterly Vol. 55; no. 220; pp. 419 - 436
• Main Author: Bergmann, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishers 01.07.2005; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Blackwell; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Agnosticism; Attitudes; Belief; Empirical evidence; Epistemic justification; Epistemology; Errors; Externalism; Internalism; Justified beliefs; Philosophical logics. Philosophy of language; Philosophy; Propositional attitudes; Psychological attitudes; Skepticism; Theory; Truth; Values; Belief; Uncertainty; Internalism; Externalism; Error; Justification; Contextualism; Scepticism

Internalists tend to impose on justification higher-level requirements, according to which a belief is justified only if the subject has a higher-level belief (i.e., a belief about the epistemic credentials of a belief). I offer an error theory that explains the appeal of this requirement: analytica...