Epistemic commitment

Epistemic commitment is an obligation, which may be withdrawn only under appropriate circumstances, to uphold the factual truth of a given proposition, and to provide reasons for one's belief in that proposition. Epistemic means 'of, or relating to knowledge'. An epistemic commitment of some kind, on the part of the participants, underlies most arguments. For instance, each participant in an argument would have a position that they are expressing, and an underlying epistemic commitment fundamental to their reasoning.

Example

Joe states that whales are gentle creatures, and as such, should never be killed.

Susan replies that killer whales are not 'gentle', in fact, they eat seal pups.

Joe, instead of revising his earlier stated opinion of whales based on new information from Susan, asserts that killer whales must not actually be whales, because a 'true whale eats plankton.' Joe has now redefined 'whale' to suit his argument.

If Susan shows Joe a biology textbook which asserts that killer whales are, in fact whales, then Joe might (or might not) decide to withdraw his epistemic commitment to the original statement about whales.

gollark: What's the real problem here? You lose consciousness all the time. Unless you don't sleep.
gollark: … not again.
gollark: Perhaps even three of them.
gollark: Yes, I imagine the uploading process would involve programs.
gollark: Figuring out interfaces for all the various neurotransmitters and other weird brain things probably makes it significantly more complex than a bunch of relays.

See also

References


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