Epistemic Dilemmas and Epistemic Normativity

Eva Schmidt is a professor of theoretical philosophy at TU Dortmund. She works in epistemology, the philosophy of action, and philosophy of mind. She has published numerous articles on epistemic reasons and reasons for action, explainable artificial intelligence, and the epistemology and nature of perception. Eva Schmidt's book Modest Nonconceptualism: Epistemology, Phenomenology, and Content (2015) defends a nonconceptualist approach to perception. She is a co-editor of Wittgenstein and Beyond: Essays in Honour of Hans-Johann Glock (Routledge, 2023).Martin Grajner is a research fellow at TU Dortmund. Before TU Dortmund, he held academic appointments at TU Dresden and the University of Jena, and spent one year as a visiting fellow at New York University. His main areas of research are epistemology and metaphysics. He has published papers in journals like Philosophical Studies and Analytic Philosophy. Martin Grajner is a co-editor of Epistemic Norms, Reasons, and Goals (2016).

“The topic of epistemic dilemmas is one of the most exciting and important new themes to emerge in epistemology over the last ten to fifteen years. In this collection, Eva Schmidt and Martin Grajner have gathered together many of the philosophers that have done the most important and impressive work on epistemic dilemmas and related issues, to address some of the key unresolved questions that surround it. It promises to be essential reading for those interested in the topic and in epistemic rationality more generally.”— Alex Worsnip, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US.“This volume will be a locus classicus for epistemologists and philosophers of normativity interested in epistemic dilemmas, and also a valuable resource for others interested in dilemmas more generally. The volume combines the latest work by some of the best-known epistemologists who helped establish the topic with exciting new work from up-and-coming contributors. Its coverage is both broad and deep, featuring contributions in traditional, social, and zetetic epistemology, plus contributions from the wider perspective of philosophy of normativity.” — Kurt Sylvan, University of Southampton, UK.“This is the first volume to give epistemic dilemmas the sustained and systematic treatment they deserve. The contributions carefully selected by Eva Schmidt and Martin Grajner both probe whether epistemic dilemmas are possible and show how reflecting on them sheds light on some of the most central debates within epistemology. The outstanding and timely volume pushes the debate to a new level. It will shape the conversation for years to come and will be essential reading for anyone interested in the structure of epistemic normativity.”— Maria Lasonen, University of Helsinki, Finland.

• Introduction: Epistemic Dilemmas and their Place in Epistemology (Eva Schmidt and Martin Grajner) Part I: Epistemic Dilemmas: Core Issues 1. Does Higher-Order Evidence Provide Evidence for Epistemic Dilemmas? (Andy Mueller) 2. The Ignorance Dilemma and Awareness-First Epistemology (Paul Silva Jr.) 3. The Normative Impotence of Practical Reasons for Belief (Keshav Singh) 4. Epistemic Dilemmas, Higher-Order Evidence, and Intellectual Self-Trust (Martin Grajner) Part II: Epistemic Dilemmas and Epistemic Normativity 5. How to Solve the Epistemic Dilemma for Firsthand Understanding: The Case for Acceptance (Thomas Grundmann) 6. Against the Fixed-Point Thesis (Nick Hughes) 7. Evidence in Disguise (Timothy Williamson) 8. The Torments of Tantalus and Radical Suspension (Wolfgang Freitag and Alexandra Zinke) 9. Why Rational People Obstinately Hold onto Irrational Beliefs: A New Approach (Chenwei Nie) Part III: Epistemic Dilemmas: New Perspectives 10. If to Know the Fact that P is Not Just to Know that P, We Get an Epistemic Dilemma (Simon Wimmer) 11. Collective Epistemic Dilemmas (Joshua Brecka) 12. Oppressive Epistemic Dilemmas (Veli Mitova)