A Luxury of the Understanding: On the Value of True Belief

by Allan Hazlett

Overview

The value of true belief has played a central role in history of philosophy—consider Socrates' slogan that the unexamined life is not worth living, and Aristotle's claim that everyone naturally wants knowledge—as well as in contemporary epistemology, where questions about the value of knowledge have recently taken center stage. It has usually been assumed that accurate representation—true belief—is valuable, either instrumentally or for its own sake. In A Luxury of the Understanding, Allan Hazlett offers a critical study of that assumption, and of the main ways in which it can be defended.

Hazlett defends the conclusion that true belief is at most sometimes valuable. In the first part of the book, he targets the view that true belief is normally better for us than false belief, and argues that false beliefs about ourselves—for example, unrealistic optimism about our futures and about other people, such as overly positive views of our friends—are often valuable vis-a-vis our wellbeing. In the second part, he targets the view that truth is "the aim of belief," and argues for anti-realism about the epistemic value of true belief. Together, these arguments comprise a challenge to the philosophical assumption of the value of true belief, and suggest an alternative picture, on which the fact that some people love truth is all there is to "the value of true belief."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199674800
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/15/2013
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Allan Hazlett is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, having taught previously at Texas Tech University and Fordham University. His research has covered several philosophical topics, including scepticism, knowledge attributions, the concept of authenticity, and the nature of fiction. He is the Secretary of the Scots Philosophical Association, and was the recipient of the 2007 Rutgers Young Epistemologist Prize.

Table of Contents

AcknowledgementsPrologue1. Two Ancient IdeasPart I: The Eudaimonic Value of True Belief2. Greatness of Mind3. Partiality and Charity4. True Belief as a Non-Ideal GoodPart II: The Epistemic Value of True Belief5. The Problem of the Source of Epistemic Normativity6. Humean Approaches7. Darwinian Approaches8. Kantian Approaches9. Anti-Realism about Epistemic NormativityEpilogueBibliography

Editorial Reviews

"In this book, Allan Hazlett presents us with a very thorough treatment of whether, in what sense, and to what extent, true belief is valuable. This book will surely be required reading for anyone interested in questions to do with epistemic value and justification. Happily, as one reads through the book, it is often easy to forget that one is reading serious philosophy-not because it lacks rigour (it does not), but because it is so clear throughout, and because it is very engagingly written." — Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review

From the Publisher