Mind your Ps and Qs: a contrastive account of testimonial inference to the best explanation

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• James Poskett (Department of History and Philosophy of Science)
• Wednesday 07 November 2012, 17:00-18:00
• Seminar Room 1, Department of History and Philosophy of Science.

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Testimonial inference to the best explanation (TIBE) is a promising descriptive account of our testimonial practices. In this paper I argue that TIBE must be supplemented by contrastivism in order to explain both the success and the failure of testimony. In doing so, I incorporate two domains of the philosophy of science which are often treated as distinct: contrastive explanation (Why P rather than Q?) and contrastive knowledge (S knows P rather than Q). This contrastivist development imposes a requirement to manage contrast classes. In light of this, I make the novel argument that TIBE is a two-step process. A primary IBE is performed in order to identify the speaker’s contrast class. A secondary IBE is then performed to evaluate the truth of the speaker’s testimony. These developments help emphasise the role of context in the management of testimony.

This talk is part of the HPS Philosophy Workshop series.

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