Topics for First Paper
Write a 2-3 page paper on one of the following topics:
1. Explain and motivate the No Defeaters theory of knowledge. What are the advantages of the No Defeaters theory over the traditional analysis of knowledge? Come up with your own counterexample to the No Defeaters theory (you can use Feldman’s examples on pages 34-35 as a guide). Is there a way to revise the No Defeaters theory that makes it immune to counterexamples?
2. In section IV of The Will to Believe, William James writes: “Our passional nature not only lawfully may, but must, decide an option between propositions, whenever it is a genuine option that cannot by its nature be decided on intellectual grounds; for to say, under such circumstances, “Do not decide, but leave the question open,” is itself a passional decision,–just like deciding yes or no,–and is attended with the same risk of losing the truth.” Explain what James means by this claim. How does it constitute an argument against Clifford’s thesis, i.e. that “it is wrong in all cases to believe on insufficient evidence”? What do you think about this argument? Are we ever forced to decide between two beliefs that cannot “be decided on intellectual grounds”?