Basic Beliefs and the Problem of Non-doxastic Justification

2009 ◽  
pp. 69-88
Author(s):  
Hamid Vahid
Author(s):  
José M. Ariso Salgado

RESUMENAl analizar si Ludwig Wittgenstein mantiene una posición fundamentalista en Sobre la certeza, suele discutirse si la citada obra se adapta al modelo de fundamentalismo propuesto por Avrum Stroll. Tras exponer las líneas básicas de dicho modelo, en esta nota se mantiene que Sobre la certeza no se adapta al modelo de Stroll debido al importante papel que Wittgenstein concede al contextualismo. Además, se añade que Wittgenstein no puede ser calificado de fundamentalista porque no reconoce ninguna propiedad que, sin tener en cuenta la diversidad de casos particulares, permita justificar de forma conjunta todas nuestras creencias básicas.PALABRAS CLAVEWITTGENSTEIN, FUNDAMENTALISMO, CONTEXTUALISMO, CERTEZAABSTRACTDid Wittgenstein hold a foundationalist position in On Certainty? When this question is tackled, it is often discussed, whether On Certainty fits in the foundationalist model devised by Avrum Stroll. After expounding the main lines of this model, I hold that On Certainty does not fit in Stroll’s model, because of the important role Wittgenstein attaches to contextualism. Furthermore, I add that Wittgenstein cannot be seen as a foundationalist –or a coherentist–, because he does not admit any feature in virtue of which the whole of our basic beliefs are justified without considering circumstances at all.KEYWORDSWITTGENSTEIN, CERTAINTY, FOUNDATIONALISM, CONTEXTUALISM


1992 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Catlin ◽  
Seymour Epstein
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Irina V. Lokhova

The main aim of the article is to consider impartially the formation of O. Bismarck’s worldview and the stages of his development as a political figure. A lot of biographers are often biased and sometimes reach panegyric or censure in their attitude to this person. The article examines objectively the factors that influenced the formation of O. Bismarck’s personality, limiting itself only to the main features of his personal character and family environment, without dwelling in detail on his political activities. Bismarck’s mother was excellently educated, combined the sentimental-religious mood of her century and the liberal beliefs inherited from her father, she aimed to awaken ambition and the desire to achieve her goals in her children from childhood. His father, unlike emotionless and refined mother, was a former military man who preferred rural life to urban life and he spoiled children in every possible way and was the soul of the family. She was shrewd and ambitious, personified intelligence and she loved to have conversations with intelligent people and to play chess, he was full of humor and fun and he preferred living on the estate and hunting. Perhaps due to this inconsistency, Bismarck was not brought up in class prejudices in his native home, but later his basic beliefs were formed under the influence of the environment.


1989 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Levine

Two theses are central to foundationalism. First, the foundationalist claims that there is a class of propositions, a class of empirical contingent beliefs, that are ‘immediately justified’. Alternatively, one can describe these beliefs as ‘self–evident’, ‘non–inferentially justified’, or ‘self–warranted’, though these are not always regarded as entailing one another. The justification or epistemic warrant for these beliefs is not derived from other justified beliefs through inductive evidential support or deductive methods of inference. These ‘basic beliefs’ constitute the foundations of empirical knowledge. One can give a reason for the justification of a basic belief even though the justification for that belief is not based on other beliefs. Thus, according to Chisholm, if asked what one's justification was for thinking that one knew, presently, that one is thinking about a city one takes to be Albuquerque, one could simply say ‘what justifies me…is simply the fact that I am thinking about a city I take to be Albuquerque’.


1990 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Grigg

The antifoundationalist defence of belief in God set forth by Alvin Plantinga has been widely discussed in recent years. Classical foundationalism assumes that there are two kinds of beliefs that we are justified in holding: beliefs supported by evidence, and basic beliefs. Our basic beliefs are those bedrock beliefs that need no evidence to support them and upon which our other beliefs must rest. For the foundationalist, the only beliefs that can be properly basic are either self-evident, or incorrigible, or evident to the senses. Belief in God is none of these. Thus, says the foundationalist, belief in God is justified only if there is sufficient evidence to back it up.


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