Knowledge Tree
Inheritance View
Facts (14)
Sources
Epistemological Problems of Testimony plato.stanford.edu Apr 1, 2021 14 facts
claimCharlie Pelling (2013) argues against the Inheritance View by presenting a case where a hearer acquires testimonial justification from a speaker who believes a proposition based on an irrational hunch rather than good evidence.
claimPeter Graham (2006b) provides an objection to the Inheritance View that is similar to Jennifer Lackey's 'Persistent Believer' case, challenging the idea that testimonial justification requires the transfer of the speaker's evidence.
claimMany epistemologists reject the Inheritance View, arguing that testimonial justification is not literally inherited from the speaker because a hearer can acquire justification even when the speaker's evidence does not justify the belief.
claimDavid Owens (2006) illustrates the Inheritance View with a scenario where a hearer's belief in a mathematical theorem is justified by the speaker's original a priori reasoning used to prove the theorem.
claimThe Inheritance View of testimonial justification posits that a hearer acquires justification for believing a proposition because they literally inherit the justification the speaker has for believing that proposition.
claimThe optometrist thought experiment serves as an objection to the Inheritance View by illustrating that a hearer's belief can be rendered irrational by a defeater—such as a doctor's warning about unreliable vision—even if the belief is true and the speaker's faculties are functioning reliably.
claimThe Inheritance View in epistemology posits that the evidence justifying a hearer's testimonial belief is the same evidence that justifies the speaker's belief.
claimJennifer Lackey's 'Persistent Believer' case (2008) argues that the Inheritance View is false because it implies a hearer cannot acquire testimonial justification from a speaker if the speaker's total evidence does not justify the speaker in believing the proposition, whereas intuitively, such justification can be acquired.
claimThe 'Detective' thought experiment illustrates a problem with the Inheritance View: a hearer can be justified in believing a conclusion (that there is exactly one thief) based on testimony from multiple sources (detectives Dell and Doris), even if the underlying evidence for that conclusion (Dell's evidence that Steph is guilty vs. Doris's evidence that Seth is guilty) conflicts and would not justify the conclusion if combined.
claimThe Inheritance View of testimonial justification posits that if a hearer acquires justification for believing that p based on a speaker's testimony, the hearer's belief is justified by the same evidence that justifies the speaker's belief that p.
claimDebates regarding the transmission of knowledge in epistemology are connected to the Inheritance View and the debate between Individualism and Non-Individualism.
claimPaul Faulkner defends a qualified Inheritance View, which posits that an individual's belief that a proposition is true can be justified by the justification that a group possesses or has access to.
claimProponents of the Inheritance View are classified as Anti-Individualists because they maintain that a hearer's acquisition of testimonial justification depends on whether the speaker possesses justification for the hearer to inherit.
claimProponents of the Inheritance View in epistemology often also endorse Anti-Reductionism.