Logic, Formal Methods & Epistemology

TOC: [Synopsis] [ Texts ] [ Requirements ] [ Website ] [ Tentative Schedule ]

Synopsis
In this seminar, we will cover various "hot topics" in contemporary epistemology. The main focus/theme of the seminar will be on the (epistemic) normative status of logic and formal methods (e.g., the epistemic-normative role of deductive logic, and similar questions for various "inductive logical" frameworks). Other topics will include the nature of evidence (e.g., is evidence factive and can there be "knowledge from falsehood"?), coherence requirements (e.g., is coherence a requirement of epistemic rationality?), and full vs partial belief as a foundation for epistemology (e.g., "probabilism" and other non-traditional frameworks for epistemology, as opposed to traditional "full belief" approaches). We will have various guest presenters throughout the term, including Joyce, Weisberg, Kotzen, Titelbaum, and our own MacFarlane, Roush, Kolodny, and Buchak.

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Texts
All texts for the course will be made available in electronic format on this page – either in HTML or Adobe PDF format. In order to read/print/search, etc. our PDF files (note: all the PDF files available here are fully searchable), you will need Adobe Reader 6 (or another reader that can read PDF version 6 files). I recommend that you download the latest version of Adobe Reader asap (it's free). See the tentative schedule, below, for all readings (both required and supplementary).

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Requirements

• The only formal requirement for the seminar will be a term paper at the end of the semester. If you're taking the course for a grade, then you should come talk to me about possible topics at least a month before the term ends (say, by early April).

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Website
Current course information can be found on the course web site, at:

http://fitelson.org/seminar/

The home page of our website is reserved mainly for announcements. The purpose of the other pages on our website should be self–explanatory. You should keep an eye on the course website, as it will be updated regularly with various content and announcements pertaining to the course. The only two computer applications you will need to view/print, etc. the content on our website are: (i) your favorite web browser, and (ii) Adobe Reader (version 6 or later, or – if you prefer – another program that can read Acrobat PDF version 6 files).

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Tentative Schedule (subject to change – so stay tuned)

Week 0 (1/19): Syllabus, Overview, etc.

Week 1 (1/28, 4–6pm, Dennes Room): Guest Presenter: Jim Joyce. Topic: Inference and Decision Making With Imprecise Probabilities

• Handouts
  • Do Imprecise Credences Make Sense? (HPLMS, Wed. Jan 27, 6–8pm, Dennes Room)
  • Thoughts on Decision Making with Imprecise Probabilities (seminar, Thurs. Jan 28, 4–6pm, Dennes Room)
• Recommended Background Reading
  • White, Evidential Symmetry and Mushy Credence
  • Joyce, How Probabilities Reflect Evidence
• Further Reading
  • Levi, Imprecision and Indeterminacy in Probability Judgment
  • Huber, Formal Representations of Belief

Week 2 (2/2): Some Background on The Normativity of Deductive Logic

• Required Reading
  • Harman, Chapters 1&2 of Change in View
  • MacFarlane, In What Sense (if any) is Logic Normative for Thought?
• Further Readings
  • Field, What is the Normative Role of Logic?
  • Harman, Field on the Normative Role of Logic
  • Milne, What is the Normative Role of Logic?

Week 3 (2/9):Guest Presenter: John MacFarlane. Topic: The Normativity of Deductive Logic

• Required Readings
  • MacFarlane, In What Sense (if any) is Logic Normative for Thought?
• Further Readings
  • Field, What is the Normative Role of Logic?
  • Harman, Field on the Normative Role of Logic
  • Milne, What is the Normative Role of Logic?
  • MacFarlane & Kolodny, Ifs and Oughts

[Note: the seminar will not meet on February 16th.]

Week 4 (2/23): Guest Presenter: Justin Bledin. Topic: Is Formal Coherence a Myth?

• Required Readings
  • Bledin, Is Formal Coherence a Myth?
• Further Readings
  • Kolodny, How Does Coherence Matter?

Week 5 (3/2): Guest Presenter: Rebecca Millsop. Topic: The Nature of Normativity in Kant’s Philosophy of Logic

• Required Readings
  • Millsop, The Nature of Normativity in Kant’s Philosophy of Logic
• Further Readings
  • Kant, Critique of Pure Reason A50/B74–A64/B88
  • Korsgaard, Morality as freedom, chapter 6 of Creating the Kingdom of Ends
  • Kant, two sections from Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals
  • Tennenbaum, The Judgment of the Weak Will

Week 6 (3/9): Knowledge From Falsehood

• Required Readings
  • Warfield, Knowledge from Falsehood
  • Fitelson, Strengthening the Case for Knowledge from Falsehood
• Further Readings
  • Audi, Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 of Epistemology [this provides a nice statemet of the "received view" about inferential knowledge]
  • Luzzi, Counter-Closure
  • Coffman, Warrant without truth?
  • Williamson, Evidence
  • Silins, Deception and Evidence
  • Schroeder, What does it take to 'have' a reason?
  • Joyce, Williamson on Evidence and Knowledge
  • Littlejohn, Evidence and Armchair Access
  • Four recent blog threads on the factivity of evidence
    • thread #1
    • thread #2
    • thread #3
    • thread #4

Week 8 (3/16): Guest Presenter: Mike Titelbaum. Topic: Bootstrapping, Externalism, and No-Lose Epistemology

• Required Reading
  • Titelbaum, Tell Me You Love Me: Bootstrapping, Externalism, and No-Lose Epistemology
• Further Readings
  • Vogel, Reliabilism Leveled
  • Cohen, Why Basic Knowledge is Easy Knowledge
  • Van Cleve, Is Knowledge Easy or Impossible?
  • Vogel, Epistemic Bootstrapping
  • Weisberg, Bootstrapping in General

Week 9 (3/30): Guest Presenter: Matt Kotzen. Topic: "Does Evidence Flow?"

• Required Readings
  • Kotzen, A Formal Account of Epistemic Defeat
• Further Readings
  • Pryor, What's Wrong with Moore's Argument?
  • Pryor, When Warrant Transmits

Week 10 (4/6): Guest Presenter: Jonathan Weisberg. Topic: Belief, Partial and Full

• Required Readings
  • Nagel, The Psychological Basis of the Harman-Vogel Paradox
  • Christensen, Chapter 3 of Putting Logic in its Place
• Further Readings
  • Christensen, Chapters 2 and 4 of Putting Logic in its Place

Week 11 (4/13): Guest Presenter: Sherri Roush. Topic: The Re-Calibrating Bayesian

• Required Readings
  • Roush, Second-Guessing: A Self-Help Manual and The Re-Calibrating Bayesian
• Further Readings
  • Skyrms, Higher-order degrees of belief
  • Dawid, The well-calibrated Bayesian
  • Seidenfeld, Calibration, coherence, and scoring rules

Week 12 (4/20): Guest Presenter: Lara Buchak. Topic: Is it Rational to Have Faith?

• Required Readings
  • Buchak, Is it Rational to Have Faith?
• Further Readings
  • Good, On the Principle of Total Evidence
  • Buchak, Risk Aversion and Rationality

Week 13 (4/27): Guest Presenter: Niko Kolodny. Topic: On Reason and Rationality

• Required Readings
  • Kolodny, On Reason and Rationality
• Further Readings (all by Kolodny)
  • “Why Be Rational?,” Mind 114:455 (2005): 509–63.
  • “State or Process Requirements?,” Mind 116:462 (2007): 371–85.
  • “Reply to Bridges,” Mind 118:470 (2009): 369–376.
  • “How Does Coherence Matter?,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 107:1 (2007): 229–263.
  • “Why Be Disposed to Be Coherent?,” Ethics 118:3 (2008): 437–463.
  • “The Myth of Practical Consistency,” European Journal of Philosophy 16:3 (2008): 366–402.
  • “Toward a Principle of Instrumental Transmission”
  • “Ought: Between Subjective and Objective,” co-authored with John MacFarlane
  • “Ought: Between Justification and Truth,” based on joint work with John MacFarlane
  • “Aims as Reasons,” in Reasons and Recognition: Essays on the Philosophy of T.M. Scanlon, edited by Samuel Freeman, Rahul Kumar, and R. Jay Wallace (New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming)

Week 14 (5/4): Guest Presenter: Justin Bledin. Topic: Formal Coherence is a Myth

• Required Readings
  • Bledin, Formal Coherence is a Myth (updated on 5/4)
• Further Readings
  • Kolodny, How Does Coherence Matter?

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