Date of Graduation
12-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Philosophy (MA)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
Philosophy
Advisor/Mentor
Senor, Thomas D.
Committee Member
Funkhouser, Eric M.
Second Committee Member
Minar, Edward H.
Keywords
Defeat; Defeaters; Epistemic Defeasibility; Epistemic Defeaters; Epistemology; Taxonomy
Abstract
It has been widely argued that reasons for a belief come in degrees but not much literature has focused on the idea that defeaters for justification toward those beliefs also come in degrees. The aim of this paper is to explore epistemic defeasibility and construct a taxonomy for epistemic defeaters. This paper argues that epistemic defeaters undergo an evolutionary process before becoming what they are commonly labeled, such as rebutting and undercutting. I argue that within some stages of this process, there can be different degrees of defeat. This paper focuses on defeaters for justification, expands on the account of partial defeaters and offers a solution to reliabilism’s problem with defeat. The main aim of this taxonomy is to provide a framework that allows (most) epistemic theories to accept solely on the basis of epistemic defeasibility.
Citation
Nicolas, E. (2021). The Evolution of Defeaters: A Taxonomy. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/4321