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27Justification, Epistemic. 2016.Epistemic Justification We often believe what we are told by our parents, friends, doctors, and news reporters. We often believe what we see, taste, and smell. We hold beliefs about the past, the present, and the future. Do we have a right to hold any of these beliefs? Are any supported by evidence? Should we … Continue reading Justification, Epistemic →
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26Patient Expertise and Medical Authority: Epistemic Implications for the Provider–Patient RelationshipJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 49 (1): 58-71. 2024.The provider–patient relationship is typically regarded as an expert-to-novice relationship, and with good reason. Providers have extensive education and experience that have developed in them the competence to treat conditions better and with fewer harms than anyone else. However, some researchers argue that many patients with long-term conditions (LTCs), such as arthritis and chronic pain, have become “experts” at managing their LTC. Unfortunately, there is no generally agreed-upon conception …Read more
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10Navigating Contested Harms and Competing Metaphysics: Humility and Ethics ConsultationAmerican Journal of Bioethics 21 (6): 34-36. 2021.Baby A1 was born prematurely with severe encephalopathy, injured brainstem, and a potentially injured spinal cord. He had no response to pain or other external stimuli. The neonatal team unanimousl...
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7What's Good on Tv: Understanding Ethics Through TelevisionWiley-Blackwell. 2011.What's Good on TV? Understanding Ethics Through Television presents an introduction to the basic theories and concepts of moral philosophy using concrete examples from classic and contemporary television shows. Utilizes clear examples from popular contemporary and classic television shows, such as The Office, Law and Order, Star Trek and Family Guy, to illustrate complex philosophical concepts Designed to be used as a stand-alone or supplementary introductory ethics text Features case studies, s…Read more
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38Expertise: a philosophical introductionBloomsbury Academic. 2020.What does it mean to be an expert? What sort of authority do experts really have? And what role should they play in today's society? Addressing why ever larger segments of society are skeptical of what experts say, Expertise: A Philosophical Introduction reviews contemporary philosophical debates and introduces what an account of expertise needs to accomplish in order to be believed. Drawing on research from philosophers and sociologists, chapters explore widely held accounts of expertise and un…Read more
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4A history and philosophy of expertise: the nature and limits of authorityBloomsbury Academic. 2021.In this comprehensive tour of the long history and philosophy of expertise, from ancient Greece to the 20th century, Jamie Carlin Watson tackles the question of expertise and why we can be skeptical of what experts say, making a valuable contribution to contemporary philosophical debates on authority, testimony, disagreement and trust. His review sketches out the ancient origins of the concept, discussing its early association with cunning, skill and authority and covering the sort of training t…Read more
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20Critical Thinking: An Introduction to Reasoning WellBloomsbury Publishing. 2015.'You shouldn't drink too much. The Earth is round. Milk is good for your bones.' Are any of these claims true? How can you tell? Can you ever be certain you are right? For anyone tackling philosophical logic and critical thinking for the first time, Critical Thinking: An Introduction to Reasoning Well provides a practical guide to the skills required to think critically. From the basics of good reasoning to the difference between claims, evidence and arguments, Robert Arp and Jamie Carlin Watson…Read more
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32What to Believe Now: Applying Epistemology to Contemporary Issues by David Coady, 2011 Malden, MA, Wiley‐Blackwellx + 202 pp, US $93.95 (hb) US $36.95 (pb) (review)Journal of Applied Philosophy 30 (4): 400-402. 2013.
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11The Advent of the Professional Ethicist: Moral Expertise and Health-Care Ethics CertificationPerspectives in Biology and Medicine 63 (3): 570-588. 2020.With the development of the Healthcare Ethics Consultant Certification offered through the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, the practice of clinical ethics has taken a decisive step into professionalization. Like other clinical consulting services that have trod this path—chaplaincy, genetic counseling, social work, case management, and so on1—clinical ethics started with academic and fellowship training programs and has identified a set of standards of practice....
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38Many irrelevant evils: a response to the Bayesian problem of evilInternational Journal of Philosophy and Theology 75 (4): 365-378. 2014.Robert Bass argues that the evidential problem of evil can be strengthened by the application of a Bayesian conditionalization argument. I argue that, whatever the merits of Bayesian conditionalization arguments, they are unsuccessful in substantiating the evidential problem of evil because the problem of evil doesn’t meet the necessary conditions for applying the formula informatively. I offer two examples to show that a successful application of the Bayesian formula must pass two tests, the co…Read more
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43Epistemic neighbors: trespassing and the range of expert authoritySynthese 200 (5): 1-21. 2022.The world is abuzz with experts who can help us in domains where we understand too little to help ourselves. But sometimes experts in one domain carry their privileged status into domains outside their specialization, where they give advice or otherwise presume to speak authoritatively. Ballantyne calls these boundary crossings “epistemic trespassing” and argues that they often violate epistemic norms. In the few cases where traveling in other domains is permissible, Ballantyne suggests there sh…Read more
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31Moral Expertise: New Essays from Theoretical and Clinical Bioethics (edited book)Springer International Publishing. 2018.This collection addresses whether ethicists, like authorities in other fields, can speak as experts in their subject matter. Though ethics consultation is a growing practice in medical contexts, there remain difficult questions about the role of ethicists in professional decision-making. Contributors examine the nature and plausibility of moral expertise, the relationship between character and expertise, the nature and limits of moral authority, how one might become a moral expert, and the trust…Read more
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71What Experts Could Not BeSocial Epistemology 33 (1): 74-87. 2019.A common philosophical account of expertise contends that (a) the good of expertise lies in the fact that it is grounded in reliably true beliefs or knowledge in a domain and (b) rejecting this truth-linked view threatens the authority of experts and opens one to epistemic relativism. I argue that both of these claims are implausible, and I show how epistemic authority and objectivity can be grounded in the current state of understanding and skill in a domain. Further, I argue that what I call a…Read more
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45The Harm of Premature Death, Immortality - The Transhumanist ChallengeEthical Perspectives 16 (4): 435-458. 2009.Although an age-old problem, the debate over immortality has become reanimated in light of recent advances in life extension technologies, accompanied by an ever-growing body of enthusiasts, both within academic circles as well as the public in general. For these people, death is no longer a natural process, but a disease, and one that might be prevented. It seems that the desire for immortality is a result, in part, of a profound sense of incompleteness and frustration that death will rob us of…Read more
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Prolegomena to an Epistemic Case for Classical LiberalismLibertarian Papers 6. 2014.The strength of many arguments for Classical Liberalism is often challenged on the grounds that these arguments appeal to controversial metaphysical structures or moral principles. To avoid these challenges, I appeal to a set of epistemic considerations to show that, in order to structure a society that affords optimal opportunity for citizens to obtain their interests, we have a rational obligation to protect individuals’ freedom to pursue those interests. In this paper, I defend the second pre…Read more
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29Dilemma arguments against naturalismEpisteme 11 (2): 1-15. 2014.Albert Casullo (2000, 2003) and Shane Oakley (2011) argue that dilemma arguments against epistemic naturalism, such as those offered by Laurence BonJour (1998) and Harvey Siegel (1984), are such that, whatever strength they have against naturalism applies equally to moderate rationalist accounts of a priori justification. They conclude that dilemma arguments are, therefore, insufficient for establishing an advantage for moderate rationalism over naturalized epistemology. I argue that both Casull…Read more
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25Talking the Talk: Enhancing Clinical Ethics with Health Literacy Best PracticesHEC Forum 31 (3): 177-199. 2019.A significant proportion of the U.S. population exhibits low health literacy. Evidence suggests that low health literacy is correlated with higher medical costs and poorer health outcomes. Even more concerning, evidence suggests that low health literacy threatens patients’ and families’ autonomy and exacerbates injustices in patients who are already vulnerable to difficulties navigating the health care system. There is also, however, increasing evidence that health literacy interventions—includi…Read more
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115The Shoulders of Giants: A Case for Non-veritism about Expert AuthorityTopoi 37 (1): 39-53. 2018.Among social epistemologists, having a certain proportion of reliably formed beliefs in a subject matter is widely regarded as a necessary condition for cognitive expertise. This condition is motivated by the idea that expert testimony puts subjects in a better position than non-expert testimony to obtain knowledge about a subject matter. I offer three arguments showing that veritism is an inadequate account of expert authority because the reliable access condition renders expertise incapable of…Read more
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34The End of EternitySophia 56 (2): 147-162. 2017.A popular critique of the kalām cosmological argument is that one argument for its second premise illicitly assumes a finite starting point for the series of past temporal events, thereby begging the question against opponents. Rejecting this assumption, opponents say, eliminates any objections to the possibility that the past is infinitely old and undermines the IFA’s ability to support premise 2. I contend that the plausibility of this objection depends on ambiguities in extant formulations of…Read more
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7Ethics Expertise Demystified: Using the Brummett/salter TaxonomyAmerican Journal of Bioethics 19 (11): 80-82. 2019.Volume 19, Issue 11, November 2019, Page 80-82.
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For l'amour : love and friendship in The office (US)In Jeremy Wisnewski (ed.), The Office and Philosophy: Scenes From the Unexamined Life, Blackwell. 2008.
Jamie Watson
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
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University of Arkansas for Medical SciencesAssistant Professor