Either way, what matters is just whether there is a good justification to be found or not, which is a matter completely independent of us and how we originally came by the belief. Parfit commits the genetic fallacy when he asserts that the causal origins “would cast grave doubt on the justifiability of these beliefs.”
From personal experience, this seems to be a crux. Those such as Parfit, Geoffrey in the OP and me previously (sort of) think that this would be a counterargument against robust realism (e.g. premise 1 in my Post), whereas yourself, Vaughn, and most academic realist philosophers would agree with the counter.
What matters is just whether there is a good justification to be found or not, which is a matter completely independent of us and how we originally came by the belief.
This is a good expression of the crux.
For many people—including many philosophers—it seems odd to think that questions of justification have nothing to do with us and our origins.
The pragmatist-naturalist perspective says something like:
We are clever beasts on an unremarkable planet orbiting an unremarkable star, etc. Over the long run, the patterns of thought we call justified are those which are adaptive (or are spandrels along for the ride).
To be clear: this perspective is compatible with having fruitful conversations about the norms of morality, scientific enquiry, and all the rest.
Yep, this is just what I argue in ‘Knowing What Matters’ (summarized here).
The classic paper in the vein is probably Enoch’s ‘The Epistemological Challenge to Metanormative Realism: How Best to Understand It, and How to Cope with It.’ (iirc, that’s where he develops his famous “third factor” reply to causal debunking arguments.)
From the summarisation on the blog:
From personal experience, this seems to be a crux. Those such as Parfit, Geoffrey in the OP and me previously (sort of) think that this would be a counterargument against robust realism (e.g. premise 1 in my Post), whereas yourself, Vaughn, and most academic realist philosophers would agree with the counter.
This is a good expression of the crux.
For many people—including many philosophers—it seems odd to think that questions of justification have nothing to do with us and our origins.
This is why the question of “what are we doing, when we do philosophy?” is so important.
The pragmatist-naturalist perspective says something like:
To be clear: this perspective is compatible with having fruitful conversations about the norms of morality, scientific enquiry, and all the rest.