TY - JOUR
T1 - The problem of perception and the no-miracles principle
AU - u, Stanford
N1 - Funding Information:
I would like to thank Johan van Benthem, Ray Briggs, Krista Lawlor, the participants of the Stanford GSW, and two anonymous referees of this journal for many helpful comments, suggestions and corrections on earlier versions of this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Springer Nature B.V.
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - The problem of perception is the problem of explaining how perceptual knowledge is possible. The skeptic has a simple solution: it is not possible. I analyze the weaknesses of one type of skeptical reasoning by making explicit a dynamic (or diachronic) epistemic principle from dynamic epistemic logic that is implicitly used in debating the problem, with the aim of offering a novel diagnosis to this skeptical argument. I argue (i) that prominent modest foundationalist responses to perceptual skepticism can be understood as rejecting the dynamic assumption made by the skeptic, (ii) that there are independent reasons to doubt the truth of such a principle in the context of skeptical reasoning, and (iii) that making the dynamic principle explicit allows for a better understanding of at least one objection to modest foundationalism.
AB - The problem of perception is the problem of explaining how perceptual knowledge is possible. The skeptic has a simple solution: it is not possible. I analyze the weaknesses of one type of skeptical reasoning by making explicit a dynamic (or diachronic) epistemic principle from dynamic epistemic logic that is implicitly used in debating the problem, with the aim of offering a novel diagnosis to this skeptical argument. I argue (i) that prominent modest foundationalist responses to perceptual skepticism can be understood as rejecting the dynamic assumption made by the skeptic, (ii) that there are independent reasons to doubt the truth of such a principle in the context of skeptical reasoning, and (iii) that making the dynamic principle explicit allows for a better understanding of at least one objection to modest foundationalism.
KW - Disjunctivism
KW - Dogmatism
KW - Dynamic epistemic logic
KW - Externalism
KW - Introspection principles
KW - Modest foundationalism
KW - Perceptual skepticism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087721473&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11229-020-02772-3
DO - 10.1007/s11229-020-02772-3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85087721473
SN - 0039-7857
VL - 198
SP - 11065
EP - 11080
JO - Synthese
JF - Synthese
IS - 11
ER -