Respect-based vindication

Abstract

Abstract This chapter is about deontological vindications of the epistemic norms, which may seem attractive as alternative to consequentialism. Deontological vindications of the norms say that norm conformity respects some finally valuable epistemic good. No such approach can vindicate epistemic norms governing mundane beliefs, as these beliefs do not merit respect. Deontological vindications thus say, in effect, that it doesn’t matter that our ordinary beliefs fit our evidence or are coherent. The chapter discusses how consequentialist and deontological vindications might be combined to mitigate this problem. Finally, the chapter shows that, while deontological vindications seem initially attractive to avoid epistemic tradeoffs, they in fact still generate norms that allow for or require tradeoffs in a range of cases.