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Uncertainty Phobia and Epistemic Forbearance in a Pandemic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2022

Nicholas Shackel
Nicholas Shackel*
Affiliation:
Cardiff University, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Oxford University
*
shackeln@cardiff.ac.uk
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Abstract

In this chapter I show how challenges to our ability to tame the uncertainty of a pandemic leaves us vulnerable to uncertainty phobia. This is because, contrary to what we might hope, not all the uncertainty that matters can be tamed by our knowledge of the relevant probabilities. Unrelievable wild uncertainty is a hard burden to bear, especially so when we must act in the face of it. We are tempted to retreat into uncertainty phobia, leading to fixed definite opinions precisely when acting on sound judgement requires our opinions to be hedged and mobile. Coping with a pandemic requires us to bear the burden rather than give in to temptation: it requires us to practise the virtue of epistemic forbearance.

Type
Paper
Information
Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements , Volume 92: Values and Virtues for a Challenging World , October 2022 , pp. 271 - 291
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy and the contributors 2022

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