Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-fqc5m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T21:14:33.342Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

NO KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2018

Abstract

Assertions are the centre of gravity in social epistemology. They are the vehicles we use to exchange information within scientific groups and society as a whole. It is therefore essential to determine under which conditions we are permitted to make an assertion. In this paper we argue and provide empirical evidence for the view that the norm of assertion is justified belief: truth or even knowledge are not required. Our results challenge the knowledge account advocated by, e.g. Williamson (1996), in general, and more specifically, put into question several studies conducted by Turri (2013, 2016) that support a knowledge norm of assertion. Instead, the justified belief account championed by, e.g. Douven (2006), seems to prevail.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ben-Yami, H., Ben-Yami, M. and Ben-Yami, J. 2015. ‘The False Belief Task Reconsidered.’ Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development, 160.Google Scholar
Del Pinal, G. and Reuter, K. 2016. ‘Social Role Concepts, Commitments, and the Normative Dimension of Conceptual Representation.’ Cognitive Science, 41: 477501.Google Scholar
Douven, I. 2006. ‘Assertion, Knowledge, and Rational Credibility.’ Philosophical Review, 115: 449–85.Google Scholar
Gerken, M. 2013. ‘Epistemic Focal Bias.’ Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 91(1): 4161.Google Scholar
Gerken, M. 2017. On Folk Epistemology: How We Think and Talk About Knowledge. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gettier, E. 1963. ‘Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?Analysis, 23: 121–23.Google Scholar
Goldberg, S. 2015. Assertion: On the Philosophical Significance of Assertoric Speech. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kneer, M. Forthcoming. ‘Norms of Assertion: Empirical Data.’ Cognition.Google Scholar
Kvanvig, J. 2011. ‘Norms of Assertion.’ In Brown, J. and Cappelen, H. (eds), Assertion: New Philosophical Essays, pp. 233–50. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lackey, J. 2007. ‘Norms of Assertion.’ Noûs, 41: 594626.Google Scholar
Machery, E., Mallon, R., Nichols, S. and Stich, S. 2013. ‘If Intuitions Vary, Then What?Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 86: 618–35.Google Scholar
Maitra, I. 2011. ‘Assertion, Norms, and Games.’ In Brown, J. and Cappelen, H. (eds), Assertion: New Philosophical Essays, pp. 277–96. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Marsili, N. and Wiegmann, A. Ms. ‘Should I Say That? An Experimental Investigation into the Norm of Assertion.’Google Scholar
McKinnon, R. 2015. The Norms of Assertion: Truth, Lies, and Warrant. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Nagel, J., San Juan, V. and Mar, R. 2013. ‘Lay Denial of Knowledge for Justified True Beliefs.’ Cognition, 129: 652–61.Google Scholar
Pagin, P. 2015. ‘Assertion.’ In Zalta, E. N. (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/assertion/.Google Scholar
Pagin, P. 2016. ‘Problems with Norms of Assertion.’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 93(1): 178207.Google Scholar
Perner, J., Leekam, S. R. and Wimmer, H. 1987. ‘Three Year Olds’ Difficulty With False Belief: The Case for a Conceptual Deficit.’ British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5(2): 125–37.Google Scholar
Turri, J. 2013. ‘The Test of Truth: An Experimental Investigation of the Norm of Assertion.’ Cognition, 129: 279–91.Google Scholar
Turri, J. 2014. ‘Knowledge and Suberogatory Assertion.’ Philosophical Studies, 167: 557–67.Google Scholar
Turri, J. 2015. ‘Knowledge and the Norm of Assertion: A Simple Test.’ Synthese, 192(2): 385–92.Google Scholar
Turri, J. 2016. Knowledge and the Norm of Assertion: An Essay in Philosophical Science. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers.Google Scholar
Turri, J. 2017. ‘The Distinctive “Should” of Assertability.’ Philosophical Psychology, 30(4): 477–85.Google Scholar
Turri, J. and Buckwalter, W. Forthcoming. ‘Descartes's Schism, Locke's Reunion: Completing the Pragmatic Turn in Epistemology.’ American Philosophical Quarterly.Google Scholar
Williamson, T. 1996. ‘Knowing and Asserting.’ Philosophical Review, 105: 489523.Google Scholar
Williamson, T. 2000. Knowledge and Its Limits. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Zollman, K. 2015. ‘Modeling the Social Consequences of Testimonial Norms.’ Philosophical Studies, 172(9): 2371–83.Google Scholar