Balance in Epistemology

Abstract

Chapter 6 takes up the problem of sufficiency for the idea that reasons come first among normative concepts in epistemology. Seven puzzles about the sufficiency of evidence are presented, each of which lays out difficulties in accounting for what amount or strength of evidence is enough in order to render a belief rational. The two-stage strategy is introduced as a way of treating several of these puzzles, by showing that what they affect is not which beliefs are rational qua belief, but instead the prior question of whether to deliberate about what to believe. But the two-stage strategy is argued to be limited, and not to solve several of the remaining puzzles. In contrast, the simple idea that there are non-evidential epistemic reasons against belief is introduced as an alternative solution to most of the remaining puzzles.