Free believers - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Pré-Publication, Document De Travail Année : 2002

Free believers

Pascal Engel

Résumé

Is there such a thing as free belief? This paper is not about free expression of belief or free speech. It is about freedom of belief as a mental state. In the sense in which the beliviers would be the cause of his or her own belief, and could believe at will, it is, for well-known reasons, impossible. Some writers, however, like McDowell, have argued, in a Kantian spirit, that obeying the norms of thought and setting oneself as a member of the "space of reasons" could provide the appropriate notion of free belief. Their account is based on the idea that a reflexive believer is automatically a free believer. I argue that this is wrong. There is no appropriate notion of free belief in this sense, although this does not show that one canno be responsible for one's belief.
index.html (73.27 Ko) Télécharger le fichier

Dates et versions

ijn_00000252 , version 1 (01-11-2002)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : ijn_00000252 , version 1

Citer

Pascal Engel. Free believers. 2002. ⟨ijn_00000252⟩
18 Consultations
27 Téléchargements

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More