Absolute Infallibilism and Fallibilism of Given Situations:On the Primary Root of Skepticism and the True Solution for Epistemology
From ancient Greece to C.S.Peirce,mainstream Western epistemology has often advocated for absolute infallibilism,which asserts that true knowledge is absolutely infallible,absolutely certain,and fully justified,thus completely ruling out the possibility of error,rendering it unquestionable and uncorrectable.Absolute infallibilists contend that S knows p,if and only if,in all given situations,S's evidence can rule out every real and theoretical possibility that is non-p.Therefore,absolute infallibilism is also an"unrestricted infallibilism".Given that not only important skeptical arguments rely on absolute infallibilism,but also that the high standards of absolute infallibilism inevitably lead to skepticism about knowledge,is the strategy for preserving knowledge thus limited to accepting fallibilism,the view that knowledge is fallible?Fallibilism asserts that knowledge is fallible,uncertain,incompletely justified,does not rule out the possibility of error,rendering it questionable and correctable.Although fallibilism can avoid skepticism and coexist with knowledge,it is not the true solution to save knowledge because it introduces low standards of knowledge and abandons high standards,leading to relativism.Logically speaking,knowledge can be divided into eight categories based on whether it has a given situation,whether it is fallible,and whether it is absolute or relative.However,any knowledge within some given situation is only relative knowledge;any knowledge without some given situation is absolute knowledge.Therefore,knowledge can be classified into four,rather than eight,categories:absolute fallibilism,absolute infallibilism,fallibilism of given situations,and infallibilism of given situations.As mentioned earlier,absolute infallibilism inevitably leads to skepticism,which is why this paper criticizes it.Because absolute fallibilism advocates unconditional fallibility and overemphasizes change,this viewpoint is rarely supported in the history of philosophy.Therefore,this paper also opposes it.Fallibilism of given situations,also mentioned earlier,is a type of relativist epistemology that leads to what is commonly referred to as relativism and is also not supported by this paper.Although similar to relativism,infallibilism of given situations is different from relativism.It is the theory that this paper aims to defend.Infallibilism of given situations holds that in a particular given situation G,if S's evidence can rule out every non-p possibility,then"S knows that proposition p",to which infallibilists of given situations agree.Unlike relativism,which advocates for"no-fault disagreement"and"any proposition is true",and which regards relative factors as external and accidental,infallibilism of given situations holds that the given situation and the truth value of propositions are interdependent.That is,when we judge whether proposition p is knowledge,we must consider specific given situations,such as p-G1,p-G2,and p-G3,which even become three propositions p1,p2,and p3,respectively.Therefore,given situations are inherent and necessary factors of the truth value of propositions.Due to the emphasis of infallibilism of given situations that only propositions consistent with their specific given situations are true,it can explain why some propositions are not true in specific given situations.Infallibilism of given situations emphasizes both the given situation of knowledge and the inequality of situations,and it advocates that"in some specific evaluation of the given situation,not all given situations are equal".When attributing knowledge,the inequality of given situations requires the selection of the best attributor,the best attributing object,and the best attributing standard.Based on the purpose of transforming the world,in real life,the best given situation is the daily or scientific,low standard given situation,so skepticism is unreasonable.Due to its ability to avoid relativism and refute skepticism,infallibilism of given situations is the true solution for epistemology.
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