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The epistemic efficacy of stupidity

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Abstract

I show that it follows from both externalist and internalist theories that stupid people may be in a better position to know than smart ones. This untoward consequence results from taking our epistemic goal to be accepting as many truths as possible and rejecting as many falsehoods as possible, combined with a recognition that the standard for acceptability cannot be set too high, else scepticism will prevail. After showing how causal, reliabilist, and coherentist theories devalue intelligence, I suggest that knowledge, as contemporary theories construe it, is not a particularly valuable cognitive achievement, and that we would do well to reopen epistemology to the study of cognitive excellences of all sorts.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Wellesley College, 02181, Wellesley, Mass, USA

    Catherine Z. Elgin

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  1. Catherine Z. Elgin
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I am grateful to Warren Goldfarb for sharing his knowledge of wines with me, and to Kenneth Winkler for sharing his knowledge of birds.

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Elgin, C.Z. The epistemic efficacy of stupidity. Synthese 74, 297–311 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00869632

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00869632

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