Claire Field (Zurich)
Is Incoherence Always Incoherent?

2024 | 2025

ISSUE NO. 2 | VOLUME CXXV

MONDAY, 24 february 2025

17.30 - 19.15 Woburn Suite, Senate House, London.

Field

about

Claire Field is a postdoc at the University of Zürich, where she is a member of the Zürich Epistemology Group on Rationality. Previously, she has held positions at Glasgow, Stirling, and UCL. Her research lies primarily in epistemology, and includes projects on the epistemology of normative beliefs, rational risk-taking, level-(in)coherence, the normativity of logic, and the philosophical implications of neurodiversity.

abstract

 

The requirements of structural rationality prohibit incoherence, but paradigmatic examples of incoherence are very diverse. Beyond an intuitive sense that incoherent attitudes do not fit together in the right way, it is difficult to characterize precisely what, if anything, unifies these examples. This paper offers a new analysis of incoherence based on the idea that attitudes are incoherent when they are unintelligible given the conceptual background in play. I argue that this analysis offers a major theoretical advantage: it allows us to make progress in debates about foundational issues, such as the nature of truth, logic, and belief.

Meeting Address

Senate House, University of London, Malet St, London WC1E 7HU.

meeting time

The Society’s philosophy talks take place every fortnight on Mondays throughout the academic year. Each talk starts at 17.30 and lasts for approximately an hour. The remainder of the time is dedicated to discussion, which ends at 19.15.

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Final Papers

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