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Paper   IPM / Philosophy / 12755
School of Analytic Philosophy
  Title:   Skepticism and the Liberal/Conservative Conceptions of Perceptual Justification
  Author(s):  Hamid Vahid
  Status:   Published
  Journal: International Journal for the Study of Skepticism
  Vol.:  3
  Year:  2013
  Pages:   45-61
  Supported by:  IPM
  Abstract:
Although it is widely recognized that perceptual experience confers justifi cation on the beliefs it gives rise to, it is unclear how its epistemic value should be properly characterized. Liberals hold, and conservatives deny, that the justifi cation conditions of perceptual beliefs merely involve experiences with the same content. Th e recent debate on this question has, however, seen further fragmentations of the positions involved with the disputants seeking to identify intermediate positions between liberalism and conservatism. In this paper, I suggest a framework to account for the diff erences and similarities of the positions within the liberalism/conservatism debate. More importantly, I suggest that, instead of focusing on one particular species of conservatism, we should recognize varieties of conservatism. My conclusion is that no theory of justifi cation need be conservative or liberal tout court . Whether a theory of justifi cation is liberal or conservative depends on which dimension of evaluation is taken to be salient. Th e implications of this fi nding for the liberalism/conservatism debate are then investigated.

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