I will be a visiting student at the CPNSS for Michaelmas term 2013. I am currently a third year PhD student in Philosophy at New York University, prior to which I completed a BPhil in Philosophy at Oxford University and an MA in Philosophy at the University of Dundee. My main interests are in formal and normative epistemology, decision theory, and consequentialist ethics.
Dates of visit: 24/09/2013 - 13/12/2013
Email: aam573@nyu.edu|
Project Description: In my project I hope to tackle three questions about norms within formal epistemology. Firstly, I will consider the nature and status of epistemic norms that apply only to non-ideal agents, such as agents that are logically and normatively uncertain. Is it possible to give a satisfying formulation of these norms and, if so, how do they relate to ideal epistemic norms? Secondly, I will assess the structure of norms in well-known decision theories such as casual and evidential decision theory. Should we treat such theories as criteria of rightness or internalizable decision procedures, and what should the be taken to evaluate? Finally, I will consider the nature of value within decision theories. Are formal epistemic norms consequentialist in nature, and should we appeal to traditional scoring rules such as the Brier score in our accounts of credal accuracy?