the Evidence-Based Argument in Peer Disagreement

Abstract

The problem of disagreement is one of the most important issues that have been debated in epistemology in recent years, and in particular the peer disagreement. The main question of this problem is what kind of attitude we should rationally adopt when we realize that someone who is an epistemic peer to us does not think the same. There are four main responses to this question: conciliationism, steadfastness, total evidence view, and justificationist view. According to conciliationism, when there is a peer disagreement, the parties should give equal weight to each other's beliefs, lower their confidence in their own beliefs or suspend their judgments on the issue in question. According to the steadfastness view, when there is a peer disagreement, one can continue to maintain one's own belief, and this is rational. In the total evidence view, one's total evidence in disagreement with an epistemic peer; consists of his own belief, the belief of his peer, and the evidence on which their belief before the disagreement is based. For this reason, according to Kelly, who is the owner of this view, it may be reasonable to place more weight on one's own belief if the original evidence supports his belief more than that of the peer. According • 281 THE EVIDENCE-BASED ARGUMENT IN