Andrew Reisner (Uppsala University): An ecumenical argument for pragmatic reasons for belief

Abstract: Although philosophical opinion has begun to shift in the last decade, it remains the dominant view in philosophy that all normative reasons for belief are in a broad sense alethic – that they related to the truth or indicators of the truth of the belief for which they are reasons. In this talk, I shall present what might be called an ‘ecumenical’ argument for the claim that there are pragmatic normative reasons for belief – reasons to believe something because it is in some way good to do so or because there are non-epistemic duties to do so. I call the argument ‘ecumenical’, as I try to construct it in a way that can engage a wide variety of alethicist accounts without beginning the question against them.

Andrew Reisner is Professor in practical philosophy Uppsala University, Sweden. His research has been in the fields of normativity and value theory.

Please note that this is an in-person event. If you can’t attend but would like to follow the talk remotely, please contact Somayeh Tohidi.