PHI322 Epistemology

In approximately 1,500 words, address one of the following topics, or another topic of your choosing. The provided topics are broad. so you will want to narrow down the focus of your paper, depending on what you have to say. Your goal should be developing your own original contribution, in a way that is informed by the views and arguments from the readings and class discussion_ While you should take the readings as a starting point for your own thinking, the aim isn't just to summarize what others have already said. Instead, it is to develop the strongest case for your own view, and to address what you think are the strongest points on the other side. For example. you might defend a view responding to an objection made in one of the readings, Or you might propose a new view by drawing a distinction that was overlooked in the readings, and explaining why it is important. Or object to a view from the reading by considering a counterexample that the author did not consider. These are just examples, intended to give you an idea of what you can hope to accomplish in 1,500 words.

 

Topics: Is it possible to hold a belief based on practical reasons (that is, reasons pertaining to the desirability of holding the belief, rather than to its truth)?

How might you go about it?

If you succeeded, would your belief be rational?