Kelly Mccain
Biographic Data
| ID | 301153 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kelly Mccain |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kelly |
| FAMILY NAME | Mccain |
| SIGNATURE | MCCAIN K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Alabama at Birmingham |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2447-4046 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The Role of Uncertainty in Rebuilding Trust in Science
Reflective Awareness, Phenomenal Conservatism, and Phenomenal Explanationism
According to Phenomenal Conservatism (PC), if a subject S has an appearance that P, in the absence of defeaters, S has justification for believing P by virtue of her appearance’s inherent justifying power. McCain and Moretti (2021) have argued that PC is affected by the problem of reflective awareness: if a subject S becomes reflectively aware of an appearance, the appearance loses its inherent justifying power. This limits the explanatory power …
The use of mobile phone surveys for rapid mortality monitoring: A national study in Burkina Faso
BACKGROUND: In low- and middle-income countries, death registration remains low, and mortality estimation is heavily based on surveys and censuses conducted through face-to-face interviews. These operations are costly and time-consuming, and are difficult to conduct during health and security crises. Taking advantage of the rapid increase in cell phone network coverage, mobile phone surveys (MPS) have recently started to be used to collect mortal…
Explanatory Reasoning and Informativeness
Bas van Fraassen has argued that explanatory reasoning does not provide confirmation for explanatory hypotheses because explanatory reasoning increases information and increasing information does not provide confirmation. We compare this argument with a skeptical argument that one should never add any beliefs because adding beliefs increases information and increasing information does not provide confirmation. We discuss the similarities between …
Appreciating the need for autonomy, or recognizing the truth of evidentialism
In this article I raise two challenges for the primary argument of Adam Carter's Autonomous Knowledge. The first is that his argument for thinking that internalist theories of epistemic justification face problems from TrueTemp-style examples is unsound. The second is that the autonomy condition that Carter argues for is not new as it seems to be already implicit in Earl Conee and Richard Feldman's account of well-founded belief. Ultimately, I do…
The Cambridge Handbook of Religious Epistemology
The Cambridge Handbook of Religious Epistemology, the first to appear on the topic, introduces the current state of religious epistemology and provides a discussion of fundamental topics related to the epistemology of religious belief. Its wide-ranging chapters not only survey fundamental topics, but also develop non-traditional epistemic theories and explore the religious epistemology endorsed by non-Western traditions. In the first section, Fai…
Evidentialism, Judgment, and Suspension: Meeting Sosa's Challenges
Ernest Sosa has recently presented three challenges for evidentialism. The challenges concern what is required for epistemically justified judging and suspending of judgment. The aim of this article is to respond to these challenges on behalf of the evidentialist. Importantly, responding to Sosa's challenges requires giving substance to the idea of appreciating what one's evidence supports. This idea has been mentioned by prominent evidentialists…
Epistemology: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments
In this new kind of entrée to contemporary epistemology, Kevin McCain presents fifty of the field’s most important puzzles, paradoxes, and thought experiments. Assuming no familiarity with epistemology from the reader, McCain titles each case with a memorable name, describes the details of the case, explains the issue(s) to which the case is relevant, and assesses its significance. McCain also briefly reviews the key responses to the case that ha…
Epistemic Duties: New Arguments, New Angles
Forgetting memory skepticism
Memory skepticism denies our memory beliefs could have any notable epistemic good. One route to memory skepticism is to challenge memory’s epistemic trustworthiness, that is, its functioning in a way necessary for it to provide epistemic justification. In this paper we develop and respond to this challenge. It could threaten memory in such a way that we altogether lack doxastic attitudes. If it threatens memory in this way, then the challenge is …
Which question do polls about evolution and belief really ask, and why does it matter
Data from studies conducted to determine acceptance rates for evolution are often misleading. The questions that are asked and compared to one another do not always give an authentic picture of respondents’ views. Quite often, polls, such as those by IPSOS, Gallup, and PEW, also run together questions asking respondents’ beliefs in concepts like God with questions asking respondents’ beliefs about concepts like evolution. The two are distinct and…
Explanationist aid for phenomenal conservatism
Evidentialism and Epistemic Justification
Evidentialism is a popular theory of epistemic justification, yet, as early proponents of the theory Earl Conee and Richard Feldman admit, there are many elements that must be developed before Evidentialism can provide a full account of epistemic justification, or well-founded belief. It is the aim of this book to provide the details that are lacking; here McCain moves past Evidentialism as a mere schema by putting forward and defending a full-fl…
The virtues of epistemic conservatism
The virtues of epistemic conservatism
Evidentialism and Epistemic Justification
Evidentialism is a popular theory of epistemic justification, yet, as early proponents of the theory Earl Conee and Richard Feldman admit, there are many elements that must be developed before Evidentialism can provide a full account of epistemic justification, or well-founded belief. It is the aim of this book to provide the details that are lacking; here McCain moves past Evidentialism as a mere schema by putting forward and defending a full-fl…
Which question do polls about evolution and belief really ask, and why does it matter
Data from studies conducted to determine acceptance rates for evolution are often misleading. The questions that are asked and compared to one another do not always give an authentic picture of respondents’ views. Quite often, polls, such as those by IPSOS, Gallup, and PEW, also run together questions asking respondents’ beliefs in concepts like God with questions asking respondents’ beliefs about concepts like evolution. The two are distinct and…
Explanationist aid for phenomenal conservatism
Epistemic Duties: New Arguments, New Angles
Forgetting memory skepticism
Memory skepticism denies our memory beliefs could have any notable epistemic good. One route to memory skepticism is to challenge memory’s epistemic trustworthiness, that is, its functioning in a way necessary for it to provide epistemic justification. In this paper we develop and respond to this challenge. It could threaten memory in such a way that we altogether lack doxastic attitudes. If it threatens memory in this way, then the challenge is …
Epistemology: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments
In this new kind of entrée to contemporary epistemology, Kevin McCain presents fifty of the field’s most important puzzles, paradoxes, and thought experiments. Assuming no familiarity with epistemology from the reader, McCain titles each case with a memorable name, describes the details of the case, explains the issue(s) to which the case is relevant, and assesses its significance. McCain also briefly reviews the key responses to the case that ha…
Explanatory Reasoning and Informativeness
Bas van Fraassen has argued that explanatory reasoning does not provide confirmation for explanatory hypotheses because explanatory reasoning increases information and increasing information does not provide confirmation. We compare this argument with a skeptical argument that one should never add any beliefs because adding beliefs increases information and increasing information does not provide confirmation. We discuss the similarities between …
Appreciating the need for autonomy, or recognizing the truth of evidentialism
In this article I raise two challenges for the primary argument of Adam Carter's Autonomous Knowledge. The first is that his argument for thinking that internalist theories of epistemic justification face problems from TrueTemp-style examples is unsound. The second is that the autonomy condition that Carter argues for is not new as it seems to be already implicit in Earl Conee and Richard Feldman's account of well-founded belief. Ultimately, I do…
The Cambridge Handbook of Religious Epistemology
The Cambridge Handbook of Religious Epistemology, the first to appear on the topic, introduces the current state of religious epistemology and provides a discussion of fundamental topics related to the epistemology of religious belief. Its wide-ranging chapters not only survey fundamental topics, but also develop non-traditional epistemic theories and explore the religious epistemology endorsed by non-Western traditions. In the first section, Fai…
Evidentialism, Judgment, and Suspension: Meeting Sosa's Challenges
Ernest Sosa has recently presented three challenges for evidentialism. The challenges concern what is required for epistemically justified judging and suspending of judgment. The aim of this article is to respond to these challenges on behalf of the evidentialist. Importantly, responding to Sosa's challenges requires giving substance to the idea of appreciating what one's evidence supports. This idea has been mentioned by prominent evidentialists…
Reflective Awareness, Phenomenal Conservatism, and Phenomenal Explanationism
According to Phenomenal Conservatism (PC), if a subject S has an appearance that P, in the absence of defeaters, S has justification for believing P by virtue of her appearance’s inherent justifying power. McCain and Moretti (2021) have argued that PC is affected by the problem of reflective awareness: if a subject S becomes reflectively aware of an appearance, the appearance loses its inherent justifying power. This limits the explanatory power …
The use of mobile phone surveys for rapid mortality monitoring: A national study in Burkina Faso
BACKGROUND: In low- and middle-income countries, death registration remains low, and mortality estimation is heavily based on surveys and censuses conducted through face-to-face interviews. These operations are costly and time-consuming, and are difficult to conduct during health and security crises. Taking advantage of the rapid increase in cell phone network coverage, mobile phone surveys (MPS) have recently started to be used to collect mortal…
The Role of Uncertainty in Rebuilding Trust in Science
Epistemology (12 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics (10 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Political science (5 works) · Law (4 works) · Skepticism (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Argument (complex analysis) (3 works) · Computer Science (3 works)