Epistemic Courage
Jonathan Jenkins Ichikawa
Abstract
Abstract Epistemic Courage, by Jonathan Ichikawa, argues that many mainstream ideas about what to believe encode a bias towards the skeptical: we devote a lot of thought and attention to the possible mistake of believing things when we shouldn’t; we ought, Ichikawa argues, to think much more than we do about the possible mistake of not believing things when we should. Mistaken suspension of judgment can be just as irrational, and just as morally and politically unfortunate, as mistaken belief can. Widespread assumptions to the contrary, Ichikawa says, encode a conservative political ideology, motivating an undue deference for the status quo. Throughout the book, Ichikawa uses a wide range of engaging and timely examples to illustrate his points, focusing both on everyday practical cases and on morally weighty and politically controversial ones, like conspiracy theories, medical misinformation, and rape culture. Epistemic Courage demonstrates that epistemology is no mere academic abstraction—the question of what to believe couldn’t be more urgent.