Reasonable Disagreement: Liberal Citizens and Epistemic Peers
Michael Bratman
My dissertation brings together debates about the significance of reasonable disagreement for epistemology and political philosophy. I argue for a new view of the epistemic significance of peer disagreement. I show that this view, in combination with the correct understanding of liberal citizenship, leads to an important challenge to political liberalism: the requirements of citizenship are in tension with the justification of citizens’ religious, moral, and philosophical views. This challenge can be met, I propose, if we conceive of people’s fundamental convictions as acceptances rather than beliefs.
“Peer Disagreement, Evidence, and Well-groundedness,” The Philosophical Review, forthcoming
“Reasonableness, Intellectual Modesty, and Reciprocity in Political Justification,” Ethics 122, No. 4, 2012, 721-747 (with RJ Leland)