Inquiry and the epistemic

Journal article

The zetetic turn in epistemology raises three questions about epistemic and zetetic norms. First, there is the relationship question: what is the relationship between epistemic and zetetic norms? Are some epistemic norms zetetic norms, or are epistemic and zetetic norms distinct? Second, there is the tension question: are traditional epistemic norms in tension with plausible zetetic norms? Third, there is the reaction question: how should theorists react to a tension between epistemic and zetetic norms? Drawing on an analogy to practical philosophy, I develop a focal point view to resolve these motivating questions. On the focal point view, traditional epistemic norms and zetetic norms answer different types of normative questions. There is nevertheless a familiar type of evaluative tension between traditional epistemic norms and zetetic norms, but this tension is an unavoidable feature of the normative landscape and not a sign that traditional epistemic norms need revision. But if traditional epistemic norms are not zetetic norms, then in what sense is zetetic epistemology a project for epistemologists? I conclude by articulating a sense in which some nontraditional epistemic norms are zetetic norms, and in which zetetic epistemology is an important part of the study of theoretical rationality.

Authors: Thorstad, D

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• Journal: Philosophical Studies
• Volume: 178
• Issue: 2021
• Pages: 2913–2928
• Publication date: 2021-01-02
• Acceptance date: 2020-12-05
• DOI: 10.1007/s11098-020-01592-y
• EISSN: 1573-0883
• ISSN: 0031-8116
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR