Abstract

On one plausible view, philosophical belief is impermissible because of widespread philosophical disagreement. If that’s right, it might be epistemically valuable to reconstrue philosophical belief as some other form of commitment, one which (a) captures some of the ways in which philosophical belief is valuable while (b) avoiding the problems caused by widespread disagreement. This chapter argues that any such commitment must be sincere, and that since certain candidates for non-doxastic philosophical commitment turn out to be insincere they should be rejected. In the course of doing this, an account of sincerity suitable for non-doxastic commitment is presented. Finally, the chapter proposes a non-belief candidate for philosophical commitment which is both sincere and can plausibly satisfy (b), drawing on the thought that we can be excused rather than justified for commitment held in the face of disagreement.