Guest Speaker: "Zip It: Epistemic Impositions and the Virtue of Discretion"

Blake Roeber (University of Notre Dame)

Friday, March 13th, 2026 (2:10 PM–4:00 PM) | Baker (180), Room 0113

Abstract:

Epistemic impositions are, roughly, situations where A tells B something that B cannot rationally believe. Epistemic impositions put the addressee in a position where she must choose between four options. She can believe the speaker or not. If she believes the speaker, she gets an epistemically irrational belief. If she does not believe the speaker, she must choose between responding confrontationally (by revealing that she does not believe the speaker), responding insincerely (by concealing that she does believe the speaker), and responding evasively (by attempting to neither conceal nor reveal that she does not believe the speaker—perhaps by changing the subject or simply ignoring the speaker). Because these options are all undesirable for most people, epistemic impositions typically put the addressee  in a position where she has no good option. In this talk, I explain why our increasing reliance on technology will make it increasingly hard to share our opinions without imposing epistemically, and I explain how this should affect our conversational habits.

 

Bio: 

Blake works primarily in traditional epistemology, and he has further research interests in formal and social epistemology. His recent work has focused on the epistemology of testimony and issues in epistemology that shed light on fake news, political polarization, and related phenomena. Besides epistemology, Blake is interested in the philosophy of language, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of religion. He is the author of Political Humility and an editor (with Ernest Sosa, Matthias Steup, and John Turri) of the 3rd edition of Contemporary Debates in Epistemology. He is also an Associate Editor for Philosophical Studies. When he's not at his desk, he's probably on his bike.