CONF: Epistemic Autonomy, HU Berlin, Aug 8-10
Daniel Friedrich
Aug 8-10 2011
Philosophical reflection on autonomy typically proceeds on the tacit
assumption that personal autonomy is exhausted by autonomous choice or
action. Yet, epistemologists sometimes talk of epistemic, cognitive, or
intellectual autonomy. Some people, they suggest, display a measure of
autonomy in their beliefs that other people lack. Compare, for example,
someone who, despite having strong evidence to the contrary, comes to
believe that p simply because others assert that p (e.g. the subjects in the
famous Ash-experiments), with someone who, despite p being the
orthodoxy of her times, believes that not-p because this is the conclusion
that she reaches upon careful consideration of all the evidence (e.g.
Copernicus). The latter person seems to display a measure of epistemic
autonomy that the former lacks.
This conference aims to illuminate the nature and value of epistemic
autonomy. Questions to be addressed include:
What does being autonomous in one’s beliefs consist in? Does it, for
example, require forming one’s beliefs without relying on the testimony of
others or is it perhaps enough that one does not accept testimony on blind
trust?
How does autonomous belief relate to autonomous choice and action? Is it,
for example, the case that autonomous belief is somehow reducible to
autonomous choice and action? If not, what, if anything, unifies practical
and epistemic autonomy?
What is the value of epistemic autonomy? Is the value of epistemic
autonomy consequent upon the value of truth or is there an intrinsic value
to epistemic autonomy?
How does autonomous belief relate to akratic, delusional or self-deceptive
belief, to trust or courage, and to our intellectual proficiency and our
cognitive biases?
What role has the concept of epistemic autonomy played in the history of
philosophy?
The Berlin School of Mind and Brain at the Humboldt University plans to
bring together philosophers with an expertise in personal autonomy,
epistemology, and the history of philosophy to produce a stimulating
environment for a discussion on epistemic autonomy.
Invited speakers: Holger Baumann, John Christman, Paul Faulkner, Klaus
Fiedler, Elizabeth Fricker, John Hardwig, Keith Lehrer, David Owens, Patrick
Rysiew, and Joseph Shieber.
Places are limited. To register please contact
daniel.f...@hu-berlin.de. There will be a registration fee of €25 (€15
for students).
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