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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
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    The reliability of a testimonial source alone is not suff... — Carmelics
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
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    Home/Skepticism
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    The reliability of a testimonial source alone is not sufficient to make testimony a source of knowledge.

    Skepticism
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.A hearer can be in a situation where a testimonial source is reliable but the hearer has no access to that reliability.
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    • 2.In such a situation, it is plausible that the testimony does not yield knowledge.
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    • 3.If reliability alone were sufficient, testimony would yield knowledge in that situation.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Reliabilist epistemology (Goldman 1979) holds that a belief constitutes knowledge when produced by a reliable cognitive process, regardless of the agent's access to that reliability.
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    • 2.The hearer's lack of introspective access to a source's reliability is epistemically irrelevant if the belief-forming process reliably tracks truth.
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    • 3.Requiring access to reliability smuggles an internalist constraint into what is fundamentally an externalist account, conflating two distinct epistemic frameworks.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Reductionists like Hume demand that testimony earn its epistemic credentials through inductive confirmation, but anti-reductionists (Coady 1992) argue testimony is a basic, non-inferential source of knowledge on par with perception.
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    • 2.If perception yields knowledge through reliable causal connection to the world without requiring the perceiver's access to perceptual reliability, testimony should be governed by the same standard.
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    • 3.Demanding more from testimony than from perception imposes an asymmetric and unmotivated burden that undermines testimony's status as a foundational epistemic source.
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    Topics

    SkepticismTruth & Knowledge

    Key Terms

    knowledge(Distinguished from mere true belief, which may be the product of indoctrination and need not exercise deliberative capacities.)
    Justified true belief — true belief that has been arrived at through the exercise of deliberative capacities, including comparison of and deliberation among alternatives.

    Related

    A hearer can be in a situation where a testimonial source is reliable but the he...Demanding more from testimony than from perception imposes an asymmetric and unm...If perception yields knowledge through reliable causal connection to the world w...If reliability alone were sufficient, testimony would yield knowledge in that si...
    +5 moreShow less
    In such a situation, it is plausible that the testimony does not yield knowledge...Reductionists like Hume demand that testimony earn its epistemic credentials thr...Reliabilist epistemology (Goldman 1979) holds that a belief constitutes knowledg...Requiring access to reliability smuggles an internalist constraint into what is ...The hearer's lack of introspective access to a source's reliability is epistemic...

    Similar

    Reliability of a testimonial source that is unknown to the hearer is n...86%If reliability alone were sufficient, testimony would yield knowledge ...85%One's personal experiences with testimonial sources constitute one's e...85%Personal track records with testimonial sources may be insufficient to...84%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: epistemology
    View source passageHide passage
    The epistemological puzzle testimony raises is this: Why is testimony a source of knowledge? An externalist might say that testimony is a source of knowledge if, and because, it comes from a reliable source. But here, even more so than in the case of our faculties, internalists will not find that answer satisfactory. Suppose you hear someone saying “p”. Suppose further that person is in fact utterly reliable with regard to the question of whether p is the case or not. Finally, suppose you have n
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit