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Chapter 6 - Front-Loading

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2019

Marc Alspector-Kelly
Affiliation:
Western Michigan University
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Summary

Assuming that transmission does sometimes fail, the closure advocate must claim that S inevitably ends up with a warrant for Q by other means whenever it does fail. I call this claim “warrant preservation” (WP). The most prominent (and, perhaps, only) argument for WP is Crispin Wright’s: since S’s evidence E for P is expectable given either P or ~Q, S needs a prior warrant for Q in order for E to deliver a warrant for P. So, assuming that P is so warranted, closure is preserved. This is the “front-loading” strategy in defense of WP. Wright also claims that front-loading explains transmission failure. I first argue that front-loading implies basis infallibilism: we must have infallible bases for what we know if we know anything at all. But we don’t; the result is skepticism. I call this the “buck-passing argument”. I show that this argument applies to any view that implies WP. Safety theory might seem to offer a way out of this argument; but I show that this is ultimately more a liability than an advantage of that account. I then show that front-loading doesn’t explain transmission failure, and that NIFN, which does, provides no support for closure.
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Front-Loading
  • Marc Alspector-Kelly, Western Michigan University
  • Book: Against Knowledge Closure
  • Online publication: 04 May 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108604093.006
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  • Front-Loading
  • Marc Alspector-Kelly, Western Michigan University
  • Book: Against Knowledge Closure
  • Online publication: 04 May 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108604093.006
Available formats
×

Save book 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.

  • Front-Loading
  • Marc Alspector-Kelly, Western Michigan University
  • Book: Against Knowledge Closure
  • Online publication: 04 May 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108604093.006
Available formats
×