Acta Structuralica

international journal for structuralist research

Journal | Volume | Article

234365

Epistemic justification and epistemic luck

Job de Grefte

pp. 3821-3836

Abstract

Among epistemologists, it is not uncommon to relate various forms of epistemic luck to the vexed debate between internalists and externalists. But there are many internalism/externalism debates in epistemology, and it is not always clear how these debates relate to each other. In the present paper I investigate the relation between epistemic luck and prominent internalist and externalist accounts of epistemic justification. I argue that the dichotomy between internalist and externalist concepts of justification can be characterized in terms of epistemic luck. Whereas externalist theories of justification are incompatible with veritic luck but not with reflective luck, the converse is true for internalist theories of justification. These results are found to explain and cohere with some recent findings from elsewhere in epistemology, and support a surprising picture of justification, on which internalism and externalism are complementary rather than contradictory positions.

Publication details

Published in:

Bewersdorf Benjamin, Peijnenburg Jeanne (2018) Epistemic justification. Synthese 195 (9).

Pages: 3821-3836

DOI: 10.1007/s11229-016-1306-7

Full citation:

de Grefte Job (2018) „Epistemic justification and epistemic luck“. Synthese 195 (9), 3821–3836.