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Chapter 2 - Practical Reasoning, Ends, and the End of Hope

from Part I - Beings of Thought in Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2021

Andy Mueller
Affiliation:
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt Am Main
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Summary

Epistemic norms for practical reasoning usually concern the question which epistemic condition must be met for it to be rationally permissible to treat p as a reason for action. I call this the classical question. In this chapter, I broaden the debate about epistemic norms, going beyond the classical question by focusing on ends. In section 2.1, I argue that we can approach the question of which ends one can rationally pursue by answering the question what one may hope for. In section 2.2, I argue that the standard condition on rational hope is too weak to properly constrain what one can rationally hope for. In section 2.3, I give my own account of what one may epistemically hope for, to which knowledge is central. In section 2.4, I point out that this suggests a novel angle on the knowledge-first program. In section 2.5, I relate my account of hope back to pursuing ends. Finally, in section 2.6, I argue that the wide variety of ends one can rationally pursue shows that many of the suggested epistemic norms that concern the classical question are overly demanding.

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Beings of Thought and Action
Epistemic and Practical Rationality
, pp. 31 - 54
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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