On the epistemic significance of practical reasons to inquire

Sanford C. Goldberg*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In this paper I explore the epistemic significance of practical reasons to inquire. I have in mind the range of practical reasons one might have to do such things as collect (additional) evidence, consult with various sources, employ certain methods or techniques, double-check one’s answer to a question, etc. After expanding the diet of examples in which subjects have such reasons, I appeal to features of these sorts of reason in order to question the motivation for pragmatic encroachment in epistemology. Once we reject pragmatic encroachment, it can seem that we are forced to treat practical reasons to inquire as having no distinctly epistemic significance. This is not so; I conclude by sketching an alternative account of what the epistemic significance of such reasons might be.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1641-1658
Number of pages18
JournalSynthese
Volume199
Issue number1-2
Early online date30 Sept 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2021

Keywords

  • Defeater
  • Inquiry
  • Normative defeat
  • Practical reasons
  • Pragmatic encroachment

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