What is reasoning?
What is reasoning?
Reasoning is a certain kind of attitude-revision. What kind? The aim of this paper is to introduce and defend a new answer to this question, based on the idea that reasoning is a goodness-fixing kind. Our central claim is that reasoning is a functional kind: it has a constitutive point or aim that fixes the standards for good reasoning. We claim, further, that this aim is to get fitting attitudes. We start by considering recent accounts of reasoning due to Ralph Wedgwood and John Broome, and argue that, while these accounts contain important insights, they are not satisfactory: Wedgwood’s rules out too much, and Broome’s too little. We then introduce and defend our alternative account, discuss some of its implications and attractions, and, finally, consider objections.
167–196
McHugh, Conor
0b73a7bf-51bf-4883-b62e-f6071f25194d
Way, Jonathan
2c3f95c6-ba9f-4640-b2f6-d23363a96c48
January 2018
McHugh, Conor
0b73a7bf-51bf-4883-b62e-f6071f25194d
Way, Jonathan
2c3f95c6-ba9f-4640-b2f6-d23363a96c48
Abstract
Reasoning is a certain kind of attitude-revision. What kind? The aim of this paper is to introduce and defend a new answer to this question, based on the idea that reasoning is a goodness-fixing kind. Our central claim is that reasoning is a functional kind: it has a constitutive point or aim that fixes the standards for good reasoning. We claim, further, that this aim is to get fitting attitudes. We start by considering recent accounts of reasoning due to Ralph Wedgwood and John Broome, and argue that, while these accounts contain important insights, they are not satisfactory: Wedgwood’s rules out too much, and Broome’s too little. We then introduce and defend our alternative account, discuss some of its implications and attractions, and, finally, consider objections.
Text
What is Reasoning - Mind final
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 17 October 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 22 June 2017
Published date: January 2018
Organisations:
Philosophy
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 402250
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/402250
ISSN: 0026-4423
PURE UUID: e5f24aef-575f-4ff5-b8a3-90e25776d965
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 04 Nov 2016 11:14
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 06:02
Export record
Altmetrics
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics