| A Priori Bootstrapping |
| Ralph Wedgwood |
| Area 1 Epistemology |
| Area 2 Epistemology |
| Keywords |
| http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mert1230/bootstrapping.htm |
| http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mert1230/bootstrapping.pdf |
| This paper seeks to explain how we can be a priori justified in believing that we are not in a "sceptical scenario" (e.g. that we are not currently being deceived by the machinations of an evil demon). The upshot is that explaining our justification for this belief is less fundamental than explaining our justification for our fundamental belief-forming practices -- including (most notably) the practice that is here called "taking one's experience at face value". If this is indeed a "primitively rational" belief-forming practice, then it is not hard to explain why (in the absence of defeating evidence of various kinds) we are also a priori justified in believing it to be reliable. |
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