PHI 1101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Confidence Trick, Wishful Thinking, Gang Of Youths

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHI 1101
• Professor: Sascha Maicher

Document Summary

2 grounds for suspicion in cases where credibility is the issue: claim itself, source of the claim. The claim and its source: whether we should believe a claim depends on its source, claims vary in credibility. 2 questions to be asked about a claim: when does the claim itself lack credibility? (when does its content present a credibility problem?) The reliability of our observations is no better than the reliability of our memories. Does the claim conflict with our background information: reports must always be evaluated against our background information (body of justified beliefs that consists of facts we learn from our own direct observations and facts we learn from others) Initial plausibility: a rough assessment of how credible a claim seems to us. If it fits well with our background info we give them claim some reasonable degree of initial plausibility.