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Credence: A Belief-First Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2020

Andrew Moon  and
Elizabeth Jackson Open the ORCID record for Elizabeth Jackson [Opens in a new window]
Andrew Moon*
Affiliation:
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
Elizabeth Jackson
Affiliation:
School of Philosophy, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia Department of Philosophy, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. Email: andrewmoon616@gmail.com
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Abstract

This paper explains and defends a belief-first view of the relationship between belief and credence. On this view, credences are a species of beliefs, and the degree of credence is determined by the content of what is believed. We begin by developing what we take to be the most plausible belief-first view. Then, we offer several arguments for it. Finally, we show how it can resist objections that have been raised to belief-first views. We conclude that the belief-first view is more plausible than many have previously supposed.

Keywords

Credencebeliefconfidenceepistemic probabilityepistemic modalsanimal concepts

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Type
Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 50 , Issue 5 , July 2020 , pp. 652 - 669
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Canadian Journal of Philosophy

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