PHI 3398 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Coherentism
4 Dec 2013
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Explicit goal: show that belief is veridical by nature. Principal goal: provide an answer to the skeptic there are at least 4 stages in the argument. 4 stages in davidson"s argument: the coherentist theory of justification, true beliefs of a person constitutes knowledge, most of a person"s belief are true, belief is intrinsically veridical. Cannot appeal to experience, sense datum, impression, or saturation of nerve endings to justify beliefs (things given to us through the veil of appearances) Only rely on other beliefs to build new beliefs. Experience has a causal role, not a justifying role. Our beliefs are justified, because they"re coherent. Established that only a belief can justify another belief. We don"t know which are true, but they are justified and therefore they constitute knowledge. Third stage: most of a person"s beliefs are true. Strictly speaking, the third stage shows that: We have to suppose that most of a person"s beliefs are true.
