Abstract
I develop an approach to action and practical deliberation according to which the degree of epistemic warrant required for practical rationality varies with practical context. In some contexts of practical deliberation, very strong warrant is called for. In others, less will do. I set forth a warrant account, (WA), that captures this idea. I develop and defend (WA) by arguing that it is more promising than a competing knowledge account of action due to John Hawthorne and Jason Stanley. I argue that cases of warranted false belief speak in favor of (WA) and against the knowledge account. Moreover, I note some problems with an “excuse maneuver” that proponents of the knowledge account frequently invoke in response to cases of warranted false belief. Finally, I argue that (WA) may provide a strict invariantist account of cases that have been thought to motivate interest-relative or subject-sensitive theories of knowledge and warrant.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bartsch K., Wellman H. (1995) Children talk about the mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Brown J. (2008) Subject-sensitive invariantism and the knowledge norm for practical reasoning. Nous 42(2): 167–189
Burge T. (1993) Content preservation. Philosophical Review 103: 457–488
Burge T. (2003) Perceptual entitlement. Philosophy & Phenomenological Research 67: 503–548
Chisholm R. (1977) Theory of knowledge. 2nd edn. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Cohen S. (1999) Contextualism, Skepticism and the structure of reasons. In: Tomberlin J. (eds) Philosophical perspectives 13: Epistemology. Ridgeview, Atascadero, pp 57–89
Davies M., Coltheart M., Langdon R., Breen N. (2002) Monothematic delusions: Towards a two-factor account. Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology 8: 133–158
DeRose Keith (2002) Assertion, knowledge and context. Philosophical Review 111: 167–203
Fantl J., McGrath M. (2002) Evidence, pragmatics, and justification. Philosophical Review 111: 67–94
Gerken M. (2009) Conceptual equivocation and epistemic relevance. Dialectica, 63(2): 117–132
Hawthorne J. (2004) Knowledge and lotteries. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Hawthorne J., Stanley J. (2008) Knowledge and Action. Journal of Philosophy, 105(10): 571–590
Maher B. A. (1999) Anomalous experience in everyday life: Its significance for psychopathology. The Monist 82: 547–570
Neta, R. (Forthcoming). Treating something as a reason for action. Nous.
Plantinga A. (1993) Warrant and proper function. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Shatz M., Wellman H., Silber S. (1983) The acquisition of mental verbs: A systematic investigation of the first reference to mental state. Cognition 14: 301–321
Stanley J. (2005) Knowledge and practical interests. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Unger P. (1975) Ignorance: A case for scepticism. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Williamson T. (2000) Knowledge and its limits. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Wellman H. M., Cross D., Watson J. (2001) Meta-analysis of theory-of-mind development: The truth about false belief. Child Development 72(3): 655–684
Wright, C. (2004). Warrant for nothing (and foundations for free). Aristotelian Supplementary Volume, 78.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gerken, M. Warrant and action. Synthese 178, 529–547 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-009-9655-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-009-9655-0