Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-dwq4g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-30T22:31:24.812Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
Series:   Elements in Epistemology

The Epistemic Consequences of Paradox

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2022

Bryan Frances
Bryan Frances
Affiliation:
United Arab Emirates University

Summary

By pooling together exhaustive analyses of certain philosophical paradoxes, we can prove a series of fascinating results regarding philosophical progress, agreement on substantive philosophical claims, knockdown arguments in philosophy, the wisdom of philosophical belief (quite rare, because the knockdown arguments show that we philosophers have been wildly wrong about language, logic, truth, or ordinary empirical matters), the epistemic status of metaphysics, and the power of philosophy to refute common sense. As examples, this Element examines the Sorites Paradox, the Liar Paradox, and the Problem of the Many – although many other paradoxes can do the trick too.
Get access

Keywords

paradoxmetaphysicswisdomphilosophical progresscommon sense
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Epistemology
Online ISBN: 9781009052948
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 28 July 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ballantyne, N. (2014). Knockdown Arguments. Erkenntnis, 79, 525–543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, K. (2009). Composition, Colocation, and Metaontology. In Chalmers, D., Manley, D., and Wasserman, R. (eds.), Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Blackford, R. and Broderick, D. (eds.) (2020). Philosophy’s Future: The Problem of Philosophical Progress. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
DeRose, K. (1995). Solving the Skeptical Problem. Philosophical Review, 104, 1–52.Google Scholar
Doulas, L. and Welchance, E. (2021). Against Philosophical Proofs against Common Sense. Analysis, 81 (2), 207–215.Google Scholar
Fine, K. (2001). The Question of Realism. The Philosophers’ Imprint, 1 (1), 1–30.Google Scholar
Frances, B. (2017). Extensive Philosophical Progress and Agreement. Metaphilosophy, 48 (1–2), 47–57.Google Scholar
Frances, B. (2020). Is It Rational to Reject Expert Consensus? International Journal for the Study of Skepticism, 10, 325–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frances, B. (2021). Philosophical Proofs against Common Sense. Analysis, 81, 18–26.Google Scholar
Frances, B. (2021). Metaphysics, Bullshit, and the Analysis of Philosophical Problems. Synthese, 199, 11541–11554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frege, G. (1892/1997). On Sinn and Bedeutung. In Frege, G., The Frege Reader, ed. Beaney, M.. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997, 151–171.Google Scholar
Frankfurt, H. (2005). On Bullshit. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gupta, A. (2006). Empiricism and Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Horgan, T. (1997). Deep Ignorance, Brute Supervenience, and the Problem of the Many. Philosophical Issues, 8, 229–236.Google Scholar
Keller, J. (2015). On Knockdown Arguments. Erkenntnis, 80, 1205–1215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, T. (2008). Common Sense As Evidence: Against Revisionary Ontology and Skepticism. In French, P. and Wettstein, H. (eds.), Midwest Studies in Philosophy: Truth and Its Deformities. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Kripke, S. (1979). A Puzzle about Belief. In Margalit, A. (ed.), Meaning and Use. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 239–283. (Reprinted in N. Salmon and S. Soames (eds.), Propositions and Attitudes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyburg, H. (1961). Probability and the Logic of Rational Belief. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.Google Scholar
Ladyman, J. and Ross, D. (2007). Every Thing Must Go: Metaphysics Naturalized. Oxford:Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, D. (1973). Counterfactuals. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. (1983). Philosophical Papers, Vol. 1. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lycan, W. (2001). Moore against the New Skeptics. Philosophical Studies, 103, 35–53.Google Scholar
Lycan, W. (2019). On Evidence in Philosophy. Oxford:Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McGee, V. (1985). A Counterexample to Modus Ponens. Journal of Philosophy, 82, 462–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGrath, S. and Kelly, T. (2017). Are There Any Successful Philosophical Arguments? In Keller, J. (ed.), Being, Freedom, and Method: Themes from the Philosophy of Peter van Inwagen. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, G. E. (1925). A Defence of Common Sense. In Muirhead, J. (ed.), Contemporary British Philosophy (2nd series). London: George Allen & Unwin, 193–223.Google Scholar
Pedersen, N. and Wright, C. (eds.) (2013). Truth and Pluralism: Current Debates. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rysiew, P. (2021). Epistemic Contextualism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Zalta, E. N.. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/contextualism-epistemology/TS.Google Scholar
Schaffer, J. (2009). On What Grounds What. In Chalmers, D., Manley, D., and Wasserman, R. (eds.), Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 347–383.Google Scholar
Schwitzgebel, E. (2014). The Crazyist Metaphysics of Mind. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 92, 665–682.Google Scholar
Schwitzgebel, E. (2017). 1% Skepticism. Noûs, 51, 271–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sider, T. and Braun, D. (2007). Vague, So Untrue. Noûs, 41, 133–156.Google Scholar
van Inwagen, P. (2006). The Problem of Evil. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
van Inwagen, P. (2014). Metaphysics (4th ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Weatherson, B. (2016). The Problem of the Many. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. E. N. Zalta. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/problem-of-many/TS.Google Scholar
Williamson, T. (1994). Vagueness. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Williamson, T. (1997a). Imagination, Stipulation, and Vagueness. Philosophical Issues, 8, 215–228.Google Scholar
Williamson, T. (1997b). Replies to Commentators [Horgan, Gomez-Torrente, Tye]. Philosophical Issues, 8, 255–265.Google Scholar
Williamson, T. (forthcoming). Disagreement in Metaphysics. In , M. Baghramian, J. A. Carter, and Rowland, R. (eds.), Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Disagreement. London: Routledge.Google Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

The Epistemic Consequences of Paradox
  • Bryan Frances, United Arab Emirates University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009052948
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

The Epistemic Consequences of Paradox
  • Bryan Frances, United Arab Emirates University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009052948
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

The Epistemic Consequences of Paradox
  • Bryan Frances, United Arab Emirates University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009052948
Available formats
×