Epistemic blame : its nature and its norms.

Abstract

In this dissertation, I investigate our practices of blaming others for failing to believe as they ought to believe. I begin by articulating an account of blame in general, and extend that account to specifically epistemic blame. After considering the relationship between epistemic blame and moral blame, I argue that it is very difficult for us to know whether others are epistemically blameworthy. I conclude by arguing that we have good reasons to expect genuine epistemic blameworthiness to be quite rare, and that this fact justifies a charitable reluctance to blame others epistemically.