Objective Epistemic Consequentialism

Summary: In this thesis I construct and defend a position that I call objective epistemic consequentialism. Objective epistemic consequentialism states that we ought to believe a proposition P to a given degree if and only if doing so produces the most epistemic value. I argue that this offers a viable response not only to the question of what we should believe and why, but also to which decision procedures we should commit ourselves to, what is of final epistemic value, and what is the nature of epistemic oughts.

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In this thesis I construct and defend a position that I call objective epistemic consequentialism. Objective epistemic consequentialism states that we ought to believe a proposition P to a given degree if and only if doing so produces the most epistemic value. I argue that this offers a viable response not only to the question of what we should believe and why, but also to which decision procedures we should commit ourselves to, what is of final epistemic value, and what is the nature of epistemic oughts.

Read the thesis here

Recommended citation: Askell, Amanda. ‘Objective Epistemic Consequntialism.’ BPhil thesis, University of Oxford (2011).