UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES FILOSÓFICAS

Abstract:

One can make normative judgments from the perspective of a Judge or a Coach. A Judge seeks to praise or blame. A Coach seeks to improve your performance. There is a judgment implicit in a coach’s advice - that your performance is somehow imperfect. Otherwise there'd be no room for improvement. But the point of this judgment is not to assign responsibility, but to help you improve your performance.

No decent person is always a Judge. It is a small and mean person who only wags a finger and never lends a hand. The same is true for epistemology. I will argue: (1) Internalism, while reasonable for an Epistemological Judge, is foolish for an Epistemological Coach. And (2) a good Epistemological Coach will focus her advice on what we can directly control - not our beliefs, but how we reason.