Talk (Work in Progress): Simon Graf (MCMP)

Title:

Against Epistemic Freedom

Abstract:

Many have argued that epistemic agents are free in various respects. That sometimes we have the freedom to choose beliefs at will, that sometimes we are permitted to acquire one of multiple equally rational doxastic attitudes, and that such belief acquisitions can be governed by non-evidential or pragmatic reasons. Much of the motivation to defend one or multiple of these theses is drawn from cases involving self-fulfilling beliefs: beliefs whose propositional contents will be true in case the respective belief is formed. Despite their reception in the literature, I will demonstrate that self-fulfilling belief cases do not support any kind of epistemic freedom. In particular, I will demonstrate that extant treatments of self-fulfilling belief cases ignore the power of self-fulfilling beliefs to transform practical considerations about belief-formation processes into evidence about prospective behaviour.