Emotions as indeterminate justifiers
(2021) In Synthese 199(44687). p.11995-12017- Abstract
Sentimentalists believe that values are crucially dependent on emotions. Epistemic sentimentalists subscribe to what I call the final-court-of-appeal view: emotional experience is ultimately necessary and can be sufficient for the justification of evaluative beliefs. This paper rejects this view defending a moderate version of rationalism that steers clear of the excesses of both “Stoic” rationalism and epistemic sentimentalism. We should grant that emotions play a significant epistemic role in justifying evaluations. At the same time, evaluative justification is not uniquely or especially dependent on emotions. The anti-sentimentalist argument developed in this paper is based on the indeterminacy thesis. The thesis states that the... (More)
Sentimentalists believe that values are crucially dependent on emotions. Epistemic sentimentalists subscribe to what I call the final-court-of-appeal view: emotional experience is ultimately necessary and can be sufficient for the justification of evaluative beliefs. This paper rejects this view defending a moderate version of rationalism that steers clear of the excesses of both “Stoic” rationalism and epistemic sentimentalism. We should grant that emotions play a significant epistemic role in justifying evaluations. At the same time, evaluative justification is not uniquely or especially dependent on emotions. The anti-sentimentalist argument developed in this paper is based on the indeterminacy thesis. The thesis states that the evaluative properties picked out by our emotional responses are too indeterminate to play a central role in our evaluative practices. I argue that while the indeterminacy thesis undermines the final-court-of-appeal view it supports the claim that emotional responses can provide prima facie justification for evaluative beliefs.
(Less)
- author
- Szigeti, András LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-08-06
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Emotions, Indeterminacy, Justification, Sentimentalism, Value
- in
- Synthese
- volume
- 199
- issue
- 44687
- pages
- 11995 - 12017
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85112651734
- ISSN
- 0039-7857
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11229-021-03321-2
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- d66b44b9-172f-4124-aa29-b20628ce5352
- date added to LUP
- 2021-09-23 15:37:39
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 14:06:25
@article{d66b44b9-172f-4124-aa29-b20628ce5352,
abstract = {{<p>Sentimentalists believe that values are crucially dependent on emotions. Epistemic sentimentalists subscribe to what I call the final-court-of-appeal view: emotional experience is ultimately necessary and can be sufficient for the justification of evaluative beliefs. This paper rejects this view defending a moderate version of rationalism that steers clear of the excesses of both “Stoic” rationalism and epistemic sentimentalism. We should grant that emotions play a significant epistemic role in justifying evaluations. At the same time, evaluative justification is not uniquely or especially dependent on emotions. The anti-sentimentalist argument developed in this paper is based on the indeterminacy thesis. The thesis states that the evaluative properties picked out by our emotional responses are too indeterminate to play a central role in our evaluative practices. I argue that while the indeterminacy thesis undermines the final-court-of-appeal view it supports the claim that emotional responses can provide prima facie justification for evaluative beliefs.</p>}},
author = {{Szigeti, András}},
issn = {{0039-7857}},
keywords = {{Emotions; Indeterminacy; Justification; Sentimentalism; Value}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{08}},
number = {{44687}},
pages = {{11995--12017}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Synthese}},
title = {{Emotions as indeterminate justifiers}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11229-021-03321-2}},
doi = {{10.1007/s11229-021-03321-2}},
volume = {{199}},
year = {{2021}},
}