Here, I explain how belief differs from experience in its epistemological role, and I address an objection to Phenomenal Conservatism raised by Susanna Siegel.*
Would the sheer unlikeliness of finding a gun in the fridge could as a defeater? Or maybe not a defeater, but a questioner, I.e. something that would make you want to double check? What plausible scenario causes a gun to appear in the refrigerator of a person who is so opposed to guns? If there is no plausible explanation for an experience, wouldn’t most people want to investigate further, rather than accept it uncritically? I suppose I am just quibbling with the terms of the thought experiment, but...
Maybe my question boils down to, what counts as a defeater? And what should we call something that is not quite a defeater, but should inspire significant skepticism?
Would the sheer unlikeliness of finding a gun in the fridge could as a defeater? Or maybe not a defeater, but a questioner, I.e. something that would make you want to double check? What plausible scenario causes a gun to appear in the refrigerator of a person who is so opposed to guns? If there is no plausible explanation for an experience, wouldn’t most people want to investigate further, rather than accept it uncritically? I suppose I am just quibbling with the terms of the thought experiment, but...
Maybe my question boils down to, what counts as a defeater? And what should we call something that is not quite a defeater, but should inspire significant skepticism?
What other good philosophy Substacks are there?
https://substack.com/@jclester?r=8hnjy&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile
https://substack.com/@rychappell?r=8hnjy&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile