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20Vice Explanations for Conspiracism, Fundamentalism, and ExtremismReview of Philosophy and Psychology. forthcoming.In the literature on conspiracism, fundamentalism, and extremism, we find so-called vice explanations for the extreme behavior and extreme beliefs that they involve. These are explanations in terms of people’s character traits, like arrogance, vengefulness, closed-mindedness, and dogmatism. However, such vice explanations face the so-called situationist challenge, which argues based on various experiments that either there are no vices or that they are not robust. Behavior and belief, so is the …Read more
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Mapping the Terrain of Extreme Belief and Behavior (edited book)Oxford University Press. forthcoming.
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4Against Doxastic CompatibilismPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 89 (3): 679-702. 2013.William Alston has argued that the so‐called deontological conception of epistemic justification, on which epistemic justification is to be spelled out in terms of blame, responsibility, and obligations, is untenable. The basic idea of the argument is that this conception is untenable because we lack voluntary control over our beliefs and, therefore, cannot have any obligations to hold certain beliefs. If this is convincing, however, the argument threatens the very idea of doxastic responsibilit…Read more
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302Why responsible belief is blameless beliefJournal of Philosophy 107 (5): 257-265. 2010.What, according to proponents of doxastic deontologism, is responsible belief? In this paper, we examine two proposals. Firstly, that responsible belief is blameless belief (a position we call DDB) and, secondly, that responsible belief is praiseworthy belief (a position we call DDP). We consider whether recent arguments in favor of DDP, mostly those recently offered by Brian Weatherson, stand up to scrutiny and argue that they do not. Given other considerations in favor of DDP, we conclude that…Read more
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58Normativity in studying conspiracy theory belief: Seven guidelinesPhilosophical Psychology 36 (6): 1125-1159. 2023.This paper aims to provide clear guidelines for researchers studying conspiracy theory belief. It examines the meta-linguistic question about how we should conceptualize 'conspiracy theory' and its relationship to the evaluative question of how we should evaluate beliefs in conspiracy theories, addressing normative issues surrounding the meaning, use, and conceptualization of ‘conspiracy theory’, as well as how these issues might impact how researchers study conspiracy theories or beliefs in the…Read more
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1Zekerheid, vertrouwen en de toekomstAlgemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 114 (4): 456-461. 2022.Amsterdam University Press is a leading publisher of academic books, journals and textbooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Our aim is to make current research available to scholars, students, innovators, and the general public. AUP stands for scholarly excellence, global presence, and engagement with the international academic community.
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Introduction : putting scientism on the philosophical agendaIn Jeroen de Ridder, Rik Peels & Rene van Woudenberg (eds.), Scientism: Prospects and Problems, Oxford University Press. 2018.
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A conceptual map of scientismIn Jeroen de Ridder, Rik Peels & Rene van Woudenberg (eds.), Scientism: Prospects and Problems, Oxford University Press. 2018.
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42Ignorance: a philosophical studyOxford University Press. 2023.a brief history of the study of ignorance. There is a lack of serious investigation into ignorance: apart from the apophatic tradition in the ancient world and the Middle Ages and the more recent fields of agnotology, philosophy of race, and feminist philosophy, ignorance itself has received little philosophical attention. It is then laid out how the field that one would expect to have studied ignorance in detail, namely, epistemology, has failed to do so. The chapter also explores why this coul…Read more
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15Proper Social and Epistemic Expectations In Speech Exchange: Reply to GoldbergJournal of Philosophical Research 47 237-242. 2022.I first list what I consider to be the main virtues of Goldberg’s novel and challenging account of epistemic pressure in speech exchange. I then zoom in on proper doxastic responses to assertions in conversations and argue that they comprise four things: (1) one believes the position that is testified to rather than just seeking, ensuring, trying, or aiming to believe the testifier on that proposition; (2) one believes the testifier; in other words, one wrongs the speaker not only if one disbeli…Read more
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9Corien Oranje, Cees Dekker, and Gijsbert van den Brink, Oer: Het grote verhaal van nul tot nuPhilosophia Reformata 86 (2): 245-247. 2021.
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10Sarah Coakley, ed., Spiritual Healing: Science, Meaning, and DiscernmentPhilosophia Reformata 87 (1): 101-104. 2022.
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17Andreas Kinneging, De onzichtbare Maat: Archeologie van goed en kwaadPhilosophia Reformata 87 (1): 71-74. 2022.
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2Scientism: Prospects and Problems (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2018.Can only science deliver genuine knowledge about the world and ourselves? Is science our only guide to what exists? Scientism answers both questions with yes. Scientism is increasingly influential in popular scientific literature and intellectual life in general, but philosophers have hitherto largely ignored it. This collection is one of the first to develop and assess scientism as a serious philosophical position. It features twelve new essays by both proponents and critics of scientism. Befor…Read more
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54The Metaphysics of DegreesEuropean Journal of Philosophy 26 (1): 46-65. 2018.Degree-sentences, i.e. sentences that seem to refer to things that allow of degrees, are widely used both inside and outside of philosophy, even though the metaphysics of degrees is much of an untrodden field. This paper aims to fill this lacuna by addressing the following four questions: [A] Is there some one thing, such that it is degree sensitive? [B] Are there things x, y, and z that stand in a certain relation to each other, viz. the relation that x has more y than z? [C] In those cases in …Read more
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36The Epistemic Dimensions of Ignorance (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2016.Ignorance is a neglected issue in philosophy. This is surprising for, contrary to what one might expect, it is not clear what ignorance is. Some philosophers say or assume that it is a lack of knowledge, whereas others claim or presuppose that it is an absence of true belief. What is one ignorant of when one is ignorant? What kinds of ignorance are there? This neglect is also remarkable because ignorance plays a crucial role in all sorts of controversial societal issues. Ignorance is often thoug…Read more
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62Cognitive Science of Religion and the Cognitive Consequences of SinIn Hans van Eyghen, Rik Peels & Gijsbert van den Brink (eds.), New Developments in the Cognitive Science of Religion - The Rationality of Religious Belief, Springer. pp. 199-214. 2018.This paper explores the relation between evolutionary explanations of religious belief and a core idea in both classical Christian theology and Reformed Epistemology, namely that humans have fallen into sin. In particular, it challenges the claim made by De Cruz and De Smedt that ‘ in the light of current evolutionary and cognitive theories, the Reformed epistemological view of NES [the noetic effects of sin] is in need of revision.’ Three possible solutions to this conundrum are examined, two o…Read more
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De waarde van kennisAlgemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 100 (2): 148-150. 2008.Na een decennia lange discussie over de afzonderlijk noodzakelijke en tezamen voldoende condities voor kennis is gedurende de afgelopen jaren onder epistemologen een debat ontstaan over de waarde van kennis. Een goede theorie van wat kennis inhoudt, zo is bij velen de gedachte, zal moeten kunnen uitleggen waarom wij waarde(n) hechten aan kennis. Iets nauwkeuriger geformuleerd: een goede kennistheorie zal duidelijk moeten kunnen maken waarom wij meer epistemische waarde hechten aan kennis dan aan…Read more
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12Paul Copan, Loving Wisdom: A Guide to Philosophy and Christian FaithPhilosophia Reformata 86 (2): 241-244. 2021.
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The Mixed Account of LuckIn Ian M. Church & Robert J. Hartman (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy and Psychology of Luck, Routledge. pp. 148-159. 2019.
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30Scientific Challenges to Common Sense Philosophy (edited book)Routledge. 2020.Common sense philosophy holds that widely and deeply held beliefs are justified in the absence of defeaters. While this tradition has always had its philosophical detractors who have defended various forms of skepticism or have sought to develop rival epistemological views, recent advances in several scientific disciplines claim to have debunked the reliability of the faculties that produce our common sense beliefs. At the same time, however, it seems reasonable that we cannot do without common …Read more
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18Replicability and replication in the humanitiesResearch Integrity and Peer Review 4 (1). 2019.A large number of scientists and several news platforms have, over the last few years, been speaking of a replication crisis in various academic disciplines, especially the biomedical and social sciences. This paper answers the novel question of whether we should also pursue replication in the humanities. First, I create more conceptual clarity by defining, in addition to the term “humanities,” various key terms in the debate on replication, such as “reproduction” and “replicability.” In doing s…Read more
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19Value pluralism in research integrityResearch Integrity and Peer Review 4 (1). 2019.Both scientists and society at large have rightfully become increasingly concerned about research integrity in recent decades. In response, codes of conduct for research have been developed and elaborated. We show that these codes contain substantial pluralism. First, there is metaphysical pluralism in that codes include values, norms, and virtues. Second, there is axiological pluralism, because there are different categories of values, norms, and virtues: epistemic, moral, professional, social,…Read more
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31The Cambridge Companion to Common-Sense Philosophy (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2020.Common-sense philosophy is important because it maintains that we can know many things about the world, about ourselves, about morality, and even about things of a metaphysical nature. The tenets of common-sense philosophy, while in some sense obvious and unsurprising, give rise to powerful arguments that can shed light on fundamental philosophical issues, including the perennial problem of scepticism and the emerging challenge of scientism. This Companion offers an exploration of common-sense p…Read more
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56Educating for ignoranceSynthese 198 (8): 7949-7963. 2020.It is widely thought that education should aim at positive epistemic standings, like knowledge, insight, and understanding. In this paper, we argue that, surprisingly, in pursuit of this aim, it is sometimes necessary to also cultivate ignorance. We examine several types of case. First, in various circumstances educators should present students with defeaters for their knowledge, so that they come to lack knowledge, at least temporarily. Second, there is the phenomenon of ‘scaffolding’ in educat…Read more
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43How Literature Delivers Knowledge and Understanding, Illustrated by Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Wharton’s SummerBritish Journal of Aesthetics 60 (2): 199-222. 2020.Some philosophers, like Alex Rosenberg, claim that natural science delivers epistemic values such as knowledge and understanding, whereas, say, literature and, according to some, literary studies, merely have aesthetic value. Many of those working in the field of literary studies oppose this idea. But it is not clear exactly how works of literary art embody knowledge and understanding and how literary studies can bring these to the light. After all, literary works of art are pieces of fiction, w…Read more
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16Responsible Belief, Influence, and Control: Response to Stephen WhiteJournal of Philosophical Research 44 53-62. 2019.I reply to Stephen White’s criticisms of my Influence View. First, I reply to his worry that my Appraisal Account of responsibility cannot make sense of doxastic responsibility. Then, I discuss in detail his stolen painting case and argue that the Influence View can make sense of it. Next, I discuss various other cases that are meant to show that acting in accordance with one’s beliefs does not render one blameless. I argue that in these cases, even though the subjects act in accordance with the…Read more
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Areas of Specialization
Epistemology |
Philosophy of Religion |
Normative Ethics |
Areas of Interest
Epistemology |
Philosophy of Religion |
Meta-Ethics |