Reorienting Clifford’s evidentialism
Returning to social trust
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21597792 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ian Macdonald (0009-0000-8694-7972, University of Waterloo), I R Macdonald (0000-0003-4274-5388, University of Waterloo, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 137-158 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal for the History of Philosophy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0960-8788 • E-ISSN: 1469-3526 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09608788.2024.2307336 |
| OpenAlex | W4392927328 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 10 |
Reading W.K. Clifford’s “The Ethics of Belief” in evidentialist terms is standard. However, evidentialist accounts face several longstanding interpretive issues over the Shipowner Story and Clifford’s Motto. This article defends an evidentialist reading. But what distinguishes it from others is that it interprets “The Ethics of Belief” according to Clifford’s “first principle of natural ethics”, a principle he articulates in prior writings, and which comes down to social trust. I reorient Clifford’s evidentialism by returning to his core moral principle and argue that doing so can establish coherence across Clifford’s writings on ethics and can help resolve the relevant interpretive issues
Epistemology · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Philosophy · Philosophy and Theoretical Science · Theology and Philosophy of Evil
| Highly cited | No |
|---|