Dr Anna Ivanova (Uniwersytet Sw. Cyryla i  Metodego w Wielkim Tyrnowie) wygłosi wykład

Coherentist Theories of Justification I

Środa 15.04, godz. 11.00, sala 39

The lectures explore the normative aspects of coherence theories of justification and the solutions they offer to a number of traditional problems of knowledge. The conceptions of Keith Lehrer, Lawrence Bonjour, Nicholas Rescher and Paul Thagard are visited to investigate the problem about the truth conductivity of the principle of coherence and the relation between coherence and observation. Common objections against coherentism are considered in the light of recent responses in academic literature. In the end, the methodological advantages of coherentism are outlined concerning the modeling in social sciences and the study of consciousness. The lectures are structured by the key problems of the coherentist account:
Structure:
•    The regress problem and the solution through circularity:
•    The four solutions to the infinite regress problem of justification
•    The idea of irrefutable beliefs: arguments against foundationalism
•    Circularity as a virtue, not a vice: historical doctrines
•    The notion of coherence: logical consistency, inferencial dependence, explanatory support
•    the probabilistic account - C. I. Lewis: the likelihood of A increases the likelihood of B
•    the systematic account – L.Bonjour: consistency, inferencial dependence and lack of anomalies
•    the explanatory account - P.Thagard:  the symmetry of explanation, belief revision issues
•    the relational account - K. Lehrer: coherence as a positive principle of meeting objections
•    Coherence and observation:
•    The isolation and the alternative system objections
•    Bonjour's Coherence Theory of Empirical Knowledge (CTEK)
•    Solutions to the isolation objection.
•    Coherence and truth conductivity:
•    P. Klein and T. Warfield: increase of coherence leads to decrease of veracity
•    Erik J. Olsson: the need for individual credibility of some beliefs in the system
•    Ernest Sosa: the credibility of the principle of coherence itself
•    Some recent responses (M. Siebel, W. Lycan)
•    Applications of coherentism in social sciences.
•    The facts of consciousness, the coherentist solution to the "other minds" problem
•    The complexity of social reality and the verification of hypotheses from social theories
•    The coherentist premise of fallibility as a route to unprejudiced thinking