The Space of Reasons 2007-04-12

Causal vs. Rational Explanations (Part 3)

In my post Causal vs Rational Explanations (Part1) I suggest that the 'Fanatical Tom' objection seems to pose a problem of causal theorists regarding justification. There are two strategies, available to the causal theorist, for responding to this objection : STRATEGY1: Accept that the Tom has a justified belief, and tweak the causal requirement to reflect this fact.STRATEGY2: Reject the assumption that Tom has a justified belief. I believe the considerations presented in my previous post on this topic, Causal vs. Rational Explanations (Part 2), represent a genuine difficulty for attempts to defend causal theories along the lines of strategy1. More specifically, I regard all attempts to argue that the spyware causally sustains Alvin’s believe via an appeal to the notion of a counterfactual cause are moribund.I now wish to propose an alternative reply, along the lines of STRATEGY2, for ...

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