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Article
Moore-paradoxical belief, conscious belief and the epistemic Ramsey test
Synthese
  • John N. WILLIAMS, Singapore Management University
Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
9-2012
Abstract

Chalmers and Hájek (2007) argue that on an epistemic reading—one that seems reasonable—of Ramsey’s test for the acceptability of conditionals, the test is faulty. They argue for the claim that applying the test to each of certain pair of conditionals requires one to think that one is omniscient or infallible, unless one forms irrational Moore-paradoxical beliefs. I show that this claim is false. The epistemic Ramsey test is indeed faulty. Applying it requires that one think of anyone as omniscient and if one is rational, to think of anyone as infallible-if-rational. But this is not because of Moore-paradoxical beliefs. Rather it is because applying the test requires a certain supposition about conscious belief. It is important to understand the nature of this supposition.

Keywords
  • Ramsey,
  • Ramsey test,
  • Moore,
  • Chalmers,
  • Hájek,
  • Conditionals,
  • Paradox,
  • Belief,
  • Conscious belief,
  • Infallibility,
  • Omniscience,
  • Irrationality
Discipline
Identifier
10.1007/s11229-011-9925-5
Publisher
Springer
Copyright Owner and License
Author
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-011-9925-5
Citation Information
John N. WILLIAMS. "Moore-paradoxical belief, conscious belief and the epistemic Ramsey test" Synthese Vol. 188 Iss. 2 (2012) p. 231 - 246 ISSN: 0039-7857
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/john_williams/19/