Some Worries About the Probability Account of the Feelings of (Un)Certainty

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Abstract

In recent papers, Peter Carruthers and others have argued that the feeling of uncertainty is not metacognitive (i.e., it is not elicited by second-order cognitive appraisals) but is elicited solely by first-order likelihood estimates—a probability account of the feeling of uncertainty. In this paper, I make a case for why a probability account is sufficient to explain neither the feeling of uncertainty nor the feeling of certainty in self-reflecting humans. I argue first that humans’ feelings of (un)certainty vary in ways that their probability estimates on the matter do not, and second that probability accounts elide the essentially epistemic nature of epistemic feelings.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)67-89
Number of pages21
JournalErkenntnis : an international journal of scientific philosophy
Volume2024
Publication statusPublished - 25 Sept 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85204788672

Keywords

DFG Classification of Subject Areas according to Review Boards