Knowledge Tree
dispositional beliefs
Also known as: non-occurrent dispositional beliefs
Facts (16)
Sources
Pluralism About Group Knowledge: A Reply to Jesper Kallestrup ... social-epistemology.com Jan 20, 2023 16 facts
claimThe dispositional belief of a group as a whole may be comprised of the literal individual dispositional beliefs of its members.
quoteJesper Kallestrup (2022a) characterizes dispositional belief as 'having information q readily available for endorsement.'
claimOne possible epistemological stipulation is that only non-occurrent beliefs should be categorized as dispositional beliefs.
quoteJesper Kallestrup (2022b) defines dispositional belief as: 'What matters for dispositional belief is that the proposition be preserved in memory from which it can effortlessly be recovered for active deployment in reasoning or planning.'
claimNon-occurrent dispositional beliefs (or proxies) in groups are characterized by the group's ability to possess and use information in relevant contexts, in accordance with the specific way the group is structured to store, access, and use that information.
claimTypically, when an occurrent belief has a causal effect in action, the physical instantiation of the belief itself plays a direct causal role, whereas a dispositional belief typically must be activated in some way to play a direct causal role in action.
referenceRik Peels distinguishes between two types of dispositional beliefs: dormant beliefs and tacit beliefs.
claimRose and Schaffer (2013) accept that occurrent beliefs are also dispositional.
claimRobert Audi (1994) argues that stored information is not a genuine dispositional belief if it is not accessed in some relevant situation.
claimA stored proposition counts as a dispositional belief as long as it is available to the believer in some relevant contexts, rather than being a mere disposition to believe.
claimGroup beliefs can be classified as both occurrent and dispositional because they are simultaneously activated and available.
claimA group of people with access to scientific archives but lacking a standardized practice of consulting them is not considered to have the dispositional beliefs contained in those archives.
claimAvram Hiller and R. Wolfe Randall argue that even if groups are denied the status of having beliefs, the functional roles occupied by belief in persons can be fulfilled by 'belief-proxies' (occurrent and dispositional beliefs).
claimRik Peels (2016) provides reasons to reject Robert Audi's argument that stored information is not a genuine dispositional belief if it is not accessed in some relevant situation.
referenceRose and Schaffer (2013) define dispositional belief as 'information to mind available for endorsement.'
claimIn the 'MISSING CHILD*' example, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) can be attributed a dispositional belief that Jimmy Smith is in Rogers Park because the computer system has collated the information in accordance with the group's design, making the information ready for action even though no individual member believes it.