CCT Lecture 7-9

Front

testimony

Back

+ evidence or proof provided by the existence of sth

+ testimony of sb else: sth ppl tell you, you know (textbooks, scientific reports, name & birth, etc.)

Front

3 ways to acquire knowledge

Back

+ through your perception & experience

+ through reflection

+ through the testimony of other ppl

Front

trustworthiness

Back

the probability that what a speaker says it true is determined by:

1. the speaker's competence or reliability at believing true claims

2. the speaker's sincerity, or tendency to say what they believe to be true

Front

when a speaker is competent but not sincere

Back

what they tell is false even though they know the truth

Front

when a speaker is sincere but not competent

Back

they believe they tell you the truth, but what they are telling is not likely to be true

Front

When are speakers less likely to be
competent?

Back

• they speculate outside their area of knowledge
• they are uncareful
• they reason using unreliable heuristics
• their reasoning is biased
• they have epistemic vices (e.g. are gullible, too arrogant to change their mind)

Front

when are speakers less likely to be sincere

Back

1. not incentivised to be sincere

(they think they can get away w/ making false claims)

2. incentivised to be insincere

(they have a lot to lose by telling the truth & to gain by not telling the truth)

Front

argument from authority

Back

+ there are epistemically legitimate appeals to authority in supporting arguments

+ trustworthy testimony may provide good evidential support for the premises of an argument

Front

an argument from authority might be made explicit as a:

Back

1. statistical syllogism

2. abduction

if is it reasonable to believe the premises, there is evidential support for the conclusion

this is not a fallacy

Front

[argument ad hominem]

the ad hominem fallacy

Back

is to attack the person offering an argument w/o giving reasons to think the argument unsound or non-transmissive

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