#395 Lisa Bortolotti: The Epistemic Innocence of Irrational Beliefs
RECORDED ON NOVEMBER 17th 2020.
Dr. Lisa Bortolotti is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham, affiliated with the Philosophy Department in the School of Philosophy, Theology, and Religion; and with the Institute for Mental Health in the School of Psychology. Her research is in the philosophy of the cognitive sciences. She writes about the limitations of human cognition and human agency, investigating faulty reasoning and irrational beliefs, delusions, confabulations, distorted memories, poor knowledge of the self, unreliable self-narratives, self-deception, inconsistencies between attitudes and behavior, unrealistic optimism, and other positive illusions. She is also interested in the philosophy of medicine and how health, wellbeing, rationality, and agency interact. She is the author of The Epistemic Innocence of Irrational Beliefs.
In this episode, we talk about The Epistemic Innocence of Irrational Beliefs. We start with some basic concepts, like “irrational beliefs”, “epistemic irrationality”, “epistemics functionality”, and “epistemic innocence”, and we apply them to a philosophical and scientific context. We go through some examples where epistemic innocence applies, like self-narratives, optimism and pessimism, mental disorders, romantic relationships, and religious beliefs. Finally, we discuss how the epistemic innocence project might apply in a clinical context, and in understanding how our normal cognition works.
Time Links:
Epistemic irrationality, epistemic functionality, and seeking the truth
Epistemic innocence
Agency, and self-narratives
Optimism, pessimism, and self-fulfilling prophecies
Mental disorders
Religious beliefs
Improving clinical practices
Biases in romantic relationships
Understanding our normal cognition
Follow Bortolotti’s work!
Follow Dr. Bortolotti’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/3lDjPvz
Website/blog: https://bit.ly/2Hejl0c
PhilPeople page: https://bit.ly/3f8xs3B
Books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3nxpUKA
The Epistemic Innocence of Irrational Beliefs: https://amzn.to/2KjKQqp
Twitter handle: @lisabortolotti