PHIL 450A: Paper Topic #2:

Externalism and Internalism About Epistemic Justification

Paper #2 Deadlines

(1) INTRODUCTION TO PAPER #2 POSTED ON PHIL 450 gopost site by midnight on Thursday fEB. 21. THERE IS A LINK TO THE PHIL 450 GOPOST SITE ON THE PHIL 450 WEB PAGE.

In your introduction, you must begin with an example that grabs the reader’s attention and serves to motivate the paper. Then you must provide an overview of the paper and conclude with a statement of the position that you will take in the paper. Don’t worry about arguing for anything in the introduction. Your goal should be for the reader to have a mental map of the paper and at least a preliminary understanding of what your conclusion will be.

(2) VOTE BY EMAIL FOR BEST PAPER #2 INTRODUCTION BY MIDNIGHT ON MONDAY FEB. 25.

(3) SUBMIT PAPER #2 TO PHIL 450 ELECTRONIC DROPBOX BY MIDNIGHT ON WED. FEB. 27. THERE IS A LINK TO THE PHIL 450 ELECTRONIC DROPBOX ON THE PHIL 450 WEB PAGE.

THE NAME OF THE FILE SHOULD BEGIN WITH YOUR LAST NAME. Submit the paper as a Word (.DOC or .DOCX) file or as an HTM or HTML file. If you have an unusual word processing program, submit your paper as an RTF file. Before turning in your final draft, make sure your paper complies with the Paper Guidelines.

Paper Topic #2 (6-8 Pages): The paper has seven parts.

(1) Steup is an access internalist about epistemic justification. Explain Steup's view and explain why it is an example of access internalism about epistemic justification. (If you wish, you may throughout this paper illustrate your discussion of access internalism with Steup's version of it.)

(2) Goldman is an externalist about epistemic justification. Explain the main ideas of Goldman's reliabilist account of justification and explain why it is externalist—that is, why Goldman's account is not compatible with access internalism. [Note: Recall that only one of the two Goldman articles attempts to give an externalist account of justification. That is the only article you need to discuss in this paper.] Make sure you explain what kind of reliability is involved in Goldman's account of justification. Is it world-to-belief reliability or belief-to-world reliability?

(3) What do you regard as the most compelling reason for being an access internalist about epistemic justification? Explain. (Here you should identify a positive virtue of Access Internalism that is not simply the lack of what you regard as a defect of externalism.)

(4) What do you regard as the most compelling reason in support of Goldman's externalism about epistemic justification? Explain. (Here you should identify a positive virtue of externalism that is not simply the lack of what you regard as a defect of access internalism.)

(5) What is the biggest problem for access internalism about epistemic justification?

(6) What is the biggest problem for Goldman's externalism about epistemic justification?

(7) How would you recommend solving these problems? What sort of account of epistemic justification makes the most sense to you? (If you are undecided, explain why you are undecided.) You must seriously consider objections to your view. Make sure that part (7) gets significant attention in your paper. Don't try to answer it in a single paragraph.

MAKE SURE TO REVIEW THE PAPER GUIDELINES BEFORE TURNING IN THE FINAL VERSION OF YOUR PAPER.