Monday, 29 October 2007
Monday, 22 October 2007
Shopping for an Efficient Cause (Part 2)
In my previous post, Shopping for an Efficient Cause (Part 1), I presented an argument against Reid's "same shop" argument. In this post, I will say why I think the previous argument fails and point towards a more effective strategy for combating the Shop Argument.
As we noted earlier, Reid accepts the first three premises aforementioned argument. Moreover, premise 4 follows from premises 2 and 3. However, premise 5 does not follow from premises 1 and 4. Premise 5 confuses the claim of premise 4, that sensory receptions and rational judgements have different efficient causes (a thesis Reid would accept), with the thesis that the sensory faculty and the rational faculty have different efficient causes (a thesis Reid would reject).
Although we are the efficient cause of our rational judgements, we are not (by Reid’s lights) the efficient cause of our rational faculty. What is at issue in the Shop Argument is not the acts of judging or sensing but rather the faculties involved. Reid’s point is that the faculties (not the actions they perform) both come from the same shop. Thus, although we are the efficient cause of our rational judgements, God is the efficient cause of our rational faculty. Since God is also the efficient cause of our sensory faculty, then both the rational and sensory faculties do come from the same shop after all. Consequently, the sceptic’s attempted refutation of the first step of the Shop Argument fails.
Though unsuccessful, the sceptical argument just limned is instructive since we are now closer to explaining what makes reason sui generis vis-à-vis the senses. Reason is not sui generis because the rational faculty comes from a different shop to the sensory faculty. What sets reason apart from the senses is that we are the efficient cause of our rational judgements but not of our sensory deliverances. Herein also lies the explanation for the unilateral relationship between reason and the senses I promised to provide earlier. Since I am the efficient cause of my rational deliberation, I am unconstrained in my attempts to weigh evidence and arguments. The same, however, is not true of my sensory deliverances—i.e., I am not free to decide whether or not I see a red flower before me. I am of course free to doubt the reliability of what I see. For instance, for whatever reason (i.e., I just ate a handful of ‘magic’ mushrooms) I may decide to doubt that the red flower I see before me is really there. However, my doubting the reliability of what I see does not change the fact that I am seeing it. Thus, when it comes to the content of my sensory deliverances I am (at least in this respect) completely passive.
The upshot of the above observations is as follows: We noted that it is because I am the efficient cause of my rational judgements that I am free to weigh and evaluate evidence. Without such freedom, my beliefs would amount to mere effects at the end of a long causal chain leading back to the first cause (i.e., God), and my personal rational agency would be lost. However, that which qualifies reason to engage in its evaluative capacity is the very thing that the sensory faculty lacks.
This observation also explains my earlier claim that the senses can never be used to evaluate our rational judgements. In sum, the fact that I am the efficient cause of my rational judgements allows reason, given the right circumstances, to effectively evaluate the reliability of the senses. Since we are not the efficient cause of our sensory deliverances, the sensory faculty lacks the unfettered (which is to say ‘autonomous’) evaluative capacity necessary to assess the reliability of our rational deliberations. This difference between reason and the senses gives rise to the unilateral relationship between the two that serves as the basis for the sui generis thesis. In my next post on this topic I will outline the implications of the sui generis thesis for Reid’s Shop Argument.
As we noted earlier, Reid accepts the first three premises aforementioned argument. Moreover, premise 4 follows from premises 2 and 3. However, premise 5 does not follow from premises 1 and 4. Premise 5 confuses the claim of premise 4, that sensory receptions and rational judgements have different efficient causes (a thesis Reid would accept), with the thesis that the sensory faculty and the rational faculty have different efficient causes (a thesis Reid would reject).
Although we are the efficient cause of our rational judgements, we are not (by Reid’s lights) the efficient cause of our rational faculty. What is at issue in the Shop Argument is not the acts of judging or sensing but rather the faculties involved. Reid’s point is that the faculties (not the actions they perform) both come from the same shop. Thus, although we are the efficient cause of our rational judgements, God is the efficient cause of our rational faculty. Since God is also the efficient cause of our sensory faculty, then both the rational and sensory faculties do come from the same shop after all. Consequently, the sceptic’s attempted refutation of the first step of the Shop Argument fails.
Though unsuccessful, the sceptical argument just limned is instructive since we are now closer to explaining what makes reason sui generis vis-à-vis the senses. Reason is not sui generis because the rational faculty comes from a different shop to the sensory faculty. What sets reason apart from the senses is that we are the efficient cause of our rational judgements but not of our sensory deliverances. Herein also lies the explanation for the unilateral relationship between reason and the senses I promised to provide earlier. Since I am the efficient cause of my rational deliberation, I am unconstrained in my attempts to weigh evidence and arguments. The same, however, is not true of my sensory deliverances—i.e., I am not free to decide whether or not I see a red flower before me. I am of course free to doubt the reliability of what I see. For instance, for whatever reason (i.e., I just ate a handful of ‘magic’ mushrooms) I may decide to doubt that the red flower I see before me is really there. However, my doubting the reliability of what I see does not change the fact that I am seeing it. Thus, when it comes to the content of my sensory deliverances I am (at least in this respect) completely passive.
The upshot of the above observations is as follows: We noted that it is because I am the efficient cause of my rational judgements that I am free to weigh and evaluate evidence. Without such freedom, my beliefs would amount to mere effects at the end of a long causal chain leading back to the first cause (i.e., God), and my personal rational agency would be lost. However, that which qualifies reason to engage in its evaluative capacity is the very thing that the sensory faculty lacks.
This observation also explains my earlier claim that the senses can never be used to evaluate our rational judgements. In sum, the fact that I am the efficient cause of my rational judgements allows reason, given the right circumstances, to effectively evaluate the reliability of the senses. Since we are not the efficient cause of our sensory deliverances, the sensory faculty lacks the unfettered (which is to say ‘autonomous’) evaluative capacity necessary to assess the reliability of our rational deliberations. This difference between reason and the senses gives rise to the unilateral relationship between the two that serves as the basis for the sui generis thesis. In my next post on this topic I will outline the implications of the sui generis thesis for Reid’s Shop Argument.
Monday, 15 October 2007
Shopping for an Efficient Cause (Part 1)
I am continuing my series of posts on Thomas Reid. Let us recap Reid’s Shop Argument:
One way in which the sceptic can resist the Shop Argument would be to reject the first step; namely, that reason and the senses come from the same shop. But how are we to understand the ‘same shop’ metaphor? Reid never explicitly spells out what he means when he says two things come from the same shop, though he does explicitly equate it with two things being “made by the same artist”. Thus, at least one way to understand the same shop metaphor is in terms of efficient causes. That is, two things are from the same shop if they share the same efficient cause (for example, God). By implication, things with different efficient causes can be described as coming from different shops, having been made by different artists.
Given the above reading of what it means for two things to come from the same shop, the sceptic prima facie seems able to construct a refutation of the first step of the Shop Argument. In Essays on the Active Powers, Reid asserts that human beings are the efficient cause of their actions. In this claim he stands in contradistinction from Malebranche (who held that only God is an efficient cause) and Hume (who denied efficient causes altogether). Reid insists that humans are the efficient cause of their actions in order to preserve, among other things, the idea of moral responsibility. While Reid does not explore the epistemic implication of this thesis I believe it is safe to assume on Reid’s behalf that we are the efficient causes of our rational judgements as well. That is, just as being responsible moral agents requires that we be free to choose among moral alternatives, being responsible epistemic agents implies that we are free to weigh and discriminate between rational arguments. In sum, we cannot be held responsible as rational agents if God (or some other external entity) is the efficient cause of our rational deliberations. I will refer to the idea that we are the efficient cause of our rational judgements as epistemic-agent causation (or EAC).
If being responsible epistemic agents entails that we are the efficient cause of our rational judgements, then the notion that the external world exerts some sort of influence on our empirical beliefs requires that we are not the efficient cause of our sensory receptions. This is not to deny the Reidian notion that our rational powers are active when we judge that we see a chair. Rather, it is to recognise that if Reid is to maintain that our beliefs have empirical content at all, he must distinguish between an active faculty of rational judgment and a passive faculty of sensory receptions. In brief, I cannot be the efficient cause of the fact that I see a red flower in front of me if I am to preserve the idea that there is an external world that gives rise to my perceptions. I will refer to the notion that we are not the efficient cause of our sensory receptions as the passive receptivity thesis (or PRT).
If we concede both EAC and PRT, then we are free to construct the following reply to the first step of the Shop Argument:
Reason, says the sceptic, is the only judge of truth, and you ought to throw off every opinion and every belief that is not grounded on reason. Why, sir, should I believe the faculty of reason more than that of perception?—they came both out of the same shop, and were made by the same artist; and if he puts one piece of false ware into my hands, what should hinder him from putting another?This argument can be broken down into three steps:
1. Reason and the senses both come from the same shop. (premise)Given that reason and the senses are equally reliable, the sceptic who privileges reason above the senses is guilty of an unwarranted epistemological prejudice.
2. That two things come from the same shop implies they are equally reliable. (premise)
3. Reason and the sense are equally reliable. (From 1 and 2)
One way in which the sceptic can resist the Shop Argument would be to reject the first step; namely, that reason and the senses come from the same shop. But how are we to understand the ‘same shop’ metaphor? Reid never explicitly spells out what he means when he says two things come from the same shop, though he does explicitly equate it with two things being “made by the same artist”. Thus, at least one way to understand the same shop metaphor is in terms of efficient causes. That is, two things are from the same shop if they share the same efficient cause (for example, God). By implication, things with different efficient causes can be described as coming from different shops, having been made by different artists.
Given the above reading of what it means for two things to come from the same shop, the sceptic prima facie seems able to construct a refutation of the first step of the Shop Argument. In Essays on the Active Powers, Reid asserts that human beings are the efficient cause of their actions. In this claim he stands in contradistinction from Malebranche (who held that only God is an efficient cause) and Hume (who denied efficient causes altogether). Reid insists that humans are the efficient cause of their actions in order to preserve, among other things, the idea of moral responsibility. While Reid does not explore the epistemic implication of this thesis I believe it is safe to assume on Reid’s behalf that we are the efficient causes of our rational judgements as well. That is, just as being responsible moral agents requires that we be free to choose among moral alternatives, being responsible epistemic agents implies that we are free to weigh and discriminate between rational arguments. In sum, we cannot be held responsible as rational agents if God (or some other external entity) is the efficient cause of our rational deliberations. I will refer to the idea that we are the efficient cause of our rational judgements as epistemic-agent causation (or EAC).
If being responsible epistemic agents entails that we are the efficient cause of our rational judgements, then the notion that the external world exerts some sort of influence on our empirical beliefs requires that we are not the efficient cause of our sensory receptions. This is not to deny the Reidian notion that our rational powers are active when we judge that we see a chair. Rather, it is to recognise that if Reid is to maintain that our beliefs have empirical content at all, he must distinguish between an active faculty of rational judgment and a passive faculty of sensory receptions. In brief, I cannot be the efficient cause of the fact that I see a red flower in front of me if I am to preserve the idea that there is an external world that gives rise to my perceptions. I will refer to the notion that we are not the efficient cause of our sensory receptions as the passive receptivity thesis (or PRT).
If we concede both EAC and PRT, then we are free to construct the following reply to the first step of the Shop Argument:
1. That two effects have different efficient causes implies they come from a different shop. (premise)If the sensory and rational faculties do not come from the same shop, as the above anti-Shop Argument argues, then Reid has been denied a premise he needs for his Shop Argument to work. In my next post on this topic I will look a possible objection to 1-5.
2. Human beings are the efficient cause of their rational judgements. (EAC)
3. Human beings are not the efficient cause of our sensory receptions. (PRT)
4. Sensory receptions and rational judgements have different efficient causes (From 2 and 3)
5. The sensory and rational faculties do not come from the same shop (From 1 and 4)
Monday, 8 October 2007
Monday, 1 October 2007
Shopping for the Sui Generis
In this post I will be further developing the reply to Reid adumbrated in my previous post; what I will refer to as the sui generis thesis. This thesis is not in tension with Reid’s observation that all the cognitive faculties are equally susceptible to “disorders of the body”. To wit, I am not claiming that reason is somehow less fallible than the faculty of sense. For example, we can imagine someone in the exact opposite position to Nash; someone whose schizophrenia utterly undermined the reliability of their rational faculty while leaving their sensory faculty perfectly intact. I do not wish to deny such a possibility.
My point is that if someone’s reason were so corrupted, there would be no way for them to use their sensory faculty to discover this fact. By contrast, in the case of someone whose sensory faculty is compromised by schizophrenia, it is nevertheless conceivable that they could discover this fact using their rational faculty (in fact, this is precisely what John Nash does).
Reid may object to my Nash counterexample by pointing out that John Nash could only use his reason to evaluate his sensory deliverances because he had prior veridical sensory experiences to use as a paradigm. But if we were to posit, let us say, a global scepticism in which the senses were always mistaken, reason would be powerless to discover this fact. The upshot of this objection is that reason could not effectively evaluate the senses independent of prior aid from the senses themselves.
However, the preceding objection merely points out that there are certain circumstances (i.e., in the case of pervasive sensory scepticism) in which reason would be unable to effectively evaluate the reliability of the senses. However, the sui generis thesis does not rely on the bold (and implausible) claim that reason is always able to effectively evaluate the reliability of the senses. Rather, it rests on the much more modest (and highly plausible) claim that it is possible, given the right circumstances, for reason to evaluate the senses. To wit, if we grant that it is never possible to use the senses to evaluate the reliability of reason, then it merely has to be the case that under some circumstances we may effectively use reason to evaluate the reliability of the senses in order to establish a unilateral relationship between the two faculties.
In sum, I am not claiming that reason is somehow free of the foibles that threaten the senses. Neither am I suggesting that reason can always be effectively used to evaluate the reliability of the senses (i.e., independent of prior aid from the senses themselves). Rather, I avow that there is a unilateral relationship between reason and the senses in that (under favourable circumstances) the former can be used to discover defects in the latter but not vice versa. I believe this unilateral relationship between reason and the senses is sufficient to establish, contra Reid, that there is something sui generis about reason vis-à-vis the senses.
In my next post on this topic, I will provide an account of what makes reason sui generis vis-à-vis the senses and outline how the sui generis thesis bears on Reid’s Shop Argument.
My point is that if someone’s reason were so corrupted, there would be no way for them to use their sensory faculty to discover this fact. By contrast, in the case of someone whose sensory faculty is compromised by schizophrenia, it is nevertheless conceivable that they could discover this fact using their rational faculty (in fact, this is precisely what John Nash does).
Reid may object to my Nash counterexample by pointing out that John Nash could only use his reason to evaluate his sensory deliverances because he had prior veridical sensory experiences to use as a paradigm. But if we were to posit, let us say, a global scepticism in which the senses were always mistaken, reason would be powerless to discover this fact. The upshot of this objection is that reason could not effectively evaluate the senses independent of prior aid from the senses themselves.
However, the preceding objection merely points out that there are certain circumstances (i.e., in the case of pervasive sensory scepticism) in which reason would be unable to effectively evaluate the reliability of the senses. However, the sui generis thesis does not rely on the bold (and implausible) claim that reason is always able to effectively evaluate the reliability of the senses. Rather, it rests on the much more modest (and highly plausible) claim that it is possible, given the right circumstances, for reason to evaluate the senses. To wit, if we grant that it is never possible to use the senses to evaluate the reliability of reason, then it merely has to be the case that under some circumstances we may effectively use reason to evaluate the reliability of the senses in order to establish a unilateral relationship between the two faculties.
In sum, I am not claiming that reason is somehow free of the foibles that threaten the senses. Neither am I suggesting that reason can always be effectively used to evaluate the reliability of the senses (i.e., independent of prior aid from the senses themselves). Rather, I avow that there is a unilateral relationship between reason and the senses in that (under favourable circumstances) the former can be used to discover defects in the latter but not vice versa. I believe this unilateral relationship between reason and the senses is sufficient to establish, contra Reid, that there is something sui generis about reason vis-à-vis the senses.
In my next post on this topic, I will provide an account of what makes reason sui generis vis-à-vis the senses and outline how the sui generis thesis bears on Reid’s Shop Argument.
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