Overview

Epistemic normativity refers to the “oughts” and “shoulds” of belief. It deals with the rules or standards that govern correct thinking. Just as ethics tells us how we should act, epistemology tells us how we should believe.

Core Idea

The core idea is that belief is not just a biological event; it is something we can do right or wrong. We have epistemic obligations (e.g., to seek truth, to avoid error, to be consistent).

Formal Definition

Epistemic normativity is the property of epistemic concepts (like justification, knowledge, rationality) that implies a value judgment or a rule for guidance.

Intuition

  • The Irrational Person: If someone believes the moon is made of cheese despite all evidence, we don’t just say they are “different”; we say they are wrong or irrational. We criticize them. This criticism implies they violated a norm.
  • The Duty to Truth: We feel a sense of duty to believe the truth, even if it is painful.

Examples

  • Clifford’s Principle: “It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.” (A strict epistemic norm).
  • Consistency: You ought not to believe P and not-P at the same time.

Common Misconceptions

  • Misconception: Normativity is only for ethics.
    • Correction: Epistemology is inherently normative. Terms like “justified” or “rational” are evaluative.
  • Misconception: Epistemic norms are just social conventions.
    • Correction: Many philosophers argue they are objective rules of reason, binding on all rational agents.
  • Deontology: The view that we have epistemic duties and permissions.
  • Consequentialism: The view that we should believe whatever produces the best epistemic consequences (e.g., most truth).
  • Virtue Epistemology: Focuses on the character traits (virtues) that fulfill epistemic norms.

Applications

  • Ethics of Belief: The intersection of morality and epistemology (e.g., is it immoral to hold racist beliefs if they are unsupported by evidence?).
  • AI Ethics: Programming AI to follow epistemic norms (e.g., avoiding bias).

Criticism and Limitations

  • Doxastic Voluntarism: We can’t just choose our beliefs like we choose our clothes. If we have no control, how can we have obligations? (“Ought implies can”).
  • Instrumentalism: Maybe epistemic norms are just hypothetical imperatives (If you want truth, do X), not categorical ones.

Further Reading

  • The Ethics of Belief by W.K. Clifford
  • Epistemic Normativity by David Grimm
  • Normativity by Judith Jarvis Thomson