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Knowledge of the Future and Reliable Belief-Forming Processes

  • Stephan Torre* (Corresponding Author)
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper embraces the view that we have substantial knowledge of the future and investigates how such knowledge fundamentally differs from knowledge of the past and present. I argue for a new source of context-sensitivity with respect to knowledge attributions arising from presuppositions about reliable belief-forming processes. This context sensitivity has important consequences for knowledge of the future, as well as the appropriateness of assertions about the future. I argue that not only is knowledge of future events typically brought about by fundamentally different processes from those that bring about knowledge of past events, that this is the case is often presupposed in attributing knowledge. I argue that this new source of context sensitivity naturally extends to explaining the recent puzzle of `easy foreknowledge'.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)39-57
Number of pages19
JournalAustralasian Journal of Philosophy
Volume103
Issue number1
Early online date14 Aug 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2025

Bibliographical note

I would like to thank Mahrad Almotahari, Phillip Bricker, Jesper Kallestrup, Hilary Kornblith, Federico Luzzi, Bailie Peterson, Patrick Todd, Brandt van der Gaast, Jacek Wawer, the audience of the Utrecht University Philosophy Colloquium, and the audience of BrickerFest 2022 for helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper. Additionally, the comments from the editor and two anonymous referees for this journal were very helpful and substantially improved this paper.

Data Availability Statement

No data availability statement.

Keywords

  • future contingents
  • foreknowledge
  • knowledge
  • contextualism

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