After Justification

ISBN-13: 9783639094381 / Angielski / Miękka / 2008 / 148 str.

Johann Friedrich Gugelmann

Opis

A central question for moral epistemology is how our moral beliefs are justified. In Hugo Tristram Engelhardt, Jr.s view, modern secular philosophy fails to provide a justification for moral belief. Despite this failure, which he equates with the failure of the "Enlightenment project," Engelhardt claims that we can peacefully collaborate by respecting one anothers ability to agree or give permission. In this book, I respond to Engelhardts claims by comparing them with the work of Alasdair MacIntyre, Harry G. Frankfurt, Gilbert Harman, David Lewis, and Jeffrey Stout. I argue that justification is a process of fitting our beliefs together to reach reflective equilibrium. It relies on shared conventions of thought and action that are elements of our culture. It doesnt rely on a special foundation of unimpeachable belief, but takes account of all our relevant beliefs. Justification isnt just a matter of what we think but of how we think. When we say our beliefs are justified, we mean that until proven otherwise, weve gathered our beliefs properly and we think were right. Justification isnt perfect or infallible, but its how we form the best beliefs we can.

O autorze

Johann Friedrich Gugelmann, PhD, is a recent graduate of Duke
University''s
Department of Religion, where he studied under Stanley Hauerwas
and David
Steinmetz. He currently works for Duke Corporate Education in
Durham, North
Carolina. He leads a Bible study and sculpts in his free time. He
lives in Raleigh with his wife, Rebecca.