What do we mean when we say that a belief is justified? What justifies a belief? These are two very different questions. An answer to the first question is an attempt to offer a conceptual analysis of justification, an explication of the meaning of the term. An answer to the second question, on the other hand, is a substantive account of epistemic justification, a set of conditions under which a belief is justified. I argue that one's substantive account of a given notion should only be attempted after one has arrived at an analysis of that concept. After distinguishing between a conceptual analysis and a substantive account, I proceed to offer an analysis of the concept of epistemic justification. The analysis begins by noting three essential features of epistemic justification: truth, goal-directedness, and normativity; the correct analysis, then, must capture the relations between these components. I begin by discussing the relation between justification and truth, and argue that the two must be conceptually linked; specifically, the analysis of justification must invoke truth-directedness. I then undertake a discussion of rival theories of truth, as that debate importantly influences the project of epistemology. The analysis I ultimately offer is "Janus-faced"; it invokes normativity in two distinct ways. My hope is that this analysis will help guide us to the correct substantive account of epistemic justification; such is the goal of the larger project of which this dissertation is the first stage.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/289023 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Truncellito, David Allen |
| Contributors | Lehrer, Keith |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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