Simon Evnine argues that all persons must share certain epistemic features. They must possess particular logical concepts and their beliefs must conform to certain principles of rationality. However, they cannot be completely objective about their own beliefs. These features deepen our understanding of what it is to be a person. Simon Evnine examines various epistemic aspects of what it is to be a person. Persons are defined as finite beings that have beliefs, including second-order beliefs about their own and others' beliefs, and engage in agency, including the making of long-term plans. It is argued that for any being meeting these conditions, a number of epistemic consequences obtain. First, all such beings must have certain logical concepts and be able to use themin certain ways. Secondly, there are atleast two principles governing belief that it is rational for persons to satisfy and are such that nothing can be a person at all unless it satisfies them to a large extent. These principles are that one believe the conjunction of one's beliefs and that one treat one's future beliefs as, by andlarge, better than one's current beliefs. Thirdly, persons both occupy epistemic points of view on the world and show up within those views. This makes it impossible for them to be completely objective about their own beliefs. Idealsof rationality that require such objectivity, while not necessarily wrong, are intrinsically problematic for persons. This 'aspectual dualism' is characteristic of treatments of persons in the Kantian tradition. In sum, these epistemic consequences support atraditional view of the nature of persons, one in opposition to much recent theorizing. INDICE: Persons and Other Matters Personhood and Logical Ability Belief and Conjunction Mental Partitioning The Epistemic Shape of a Person's Life Oneself as Another Conclusion References Index
- ISBN: 978-0-19-964241-0
- Editorial: Oxford University
- Encuadernacion: Rústica
- Páginas: 188
- Fecha Publicación: 03/11/2011
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés