Content

The content changes from year to year. The theme of 2024-25 is: The Ethics of Belief

The ethics of belief is a debate on topics at the intersection of epistemology and ethics, with wide-ranging connections to other areas in philosophy, including feminist philosophy, political philosophy, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of mind. As its name suggests, the debate concerns the normative dimensions of our practices of belief formation, revision, and relinquishment. As such, the most central question in the debate is: what should we believe? Other central questions include the following: Are there genuine obligations to hold certain beliefs or refrain from having them? If we have such obligations, what are the norms of belief like? Does belief have an aim, and, if it does, what is it and what is the relation between the aim of belief and its norms? Can there be practical or moral reasons for belief? Do practical or moral factors encroach on the epistemic? Can beliefs harm or wrong others? Are there genuine epistemic kinds of injustice? Are belief formation, revision, and relinquishment under our voluntary control, and, if that is the case, what kind of control is it? If we lack such control, how can we even have norms of belief? How are we responsible for what we believe?

Recent work on the topic also relates to and addresses pressing societal and political challenges ranging from trust in public institutions or those who report being victims of rape, to the proliferation of online disinformation, science skepticism, and the legal standards of proof.

The essay that christened the debate was published in 1877 by William Kingdon Clifford; and, arguably, philosophical reflections on some of these questions are even older—perhaps, as old as philosophy itself. But the debate is anything but stale. The ethics of belief has received considerable attention over the past twenty-five years, emerging as one of the hottest current debates in analytic philosophy.

Course material

All required readings will be made accessible through Toledo.

Format: more information

The course is designed as a reading seminar with presentations by the instructor and the students, either individually or in groups. Students are expected to read the required readings before each class and actively participate in class discussions. Additional optional readings are recommended but, obviously, not mandatory.

To best prepare for class discussions, students are required to complete assignments about the required readings. Each assignment consists of two or three questions aimed to assess the student’s understanding of core concepts and core arguments presented in the readings.