Kenji Lota at the Ohio Philosophical Association Conference

Kenji Lota, MA Student in Philosophy, will present a paper at the 2019 Ohio Philosophical Association (OPA) Conference at Wittenburg University, in Springfield, Ohio on April 13, 2019. He will appear on the panel "Perspective Shifting and Epistemic Rationality" to present his paper "Questions for Uniqueness."

Abstract: In this paper, I argue that the so-called Uniqueness Thesis, or Uniqueness, is untenable because we cannot conceive of epistemic rationality as free of any practical components. Uniqueness states that given the same body of evidence, there is at most one rational doxastic attitude taken towards any proposition. Some authors, on the other hand, argue that it is rationally permissible to hold differing doxastic attitudes; call that view Permissivism. First, I provide a precise formulation for Uniqueness and evaluate some of the arguments for and against it. I show that many extant arguments against Uniqueness are question-begging and why these arguments fail. Finally, I offer a better argument against Uniqueness. My argument brings out that rational belief is not determined solely by evidence but also by the questions that guide one’s inquiry.

Kenji was awarded the Conference and Exposition Award to present at the OPA Conference.

He will also appear at 2019 Annual Congress of the Canadian Philosophical Association | Le congrès annuel 2019 de L'Association canadienne de philosophie, one of the largest meetings of philosophers in Canada, at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, BC, June 1-4, 2019.