Agência epistêmica

Abstract

The paper explores a series of distinctions between mental states that might be cognitively relevant, as well as between those that might be "self-presenting", so as to analyze the relations between these and the external world, and understand the types of beliefs and epistemic judgments for which they allow. The paper also aims to reconsider the (perhaps epistemic) status of contentful sensory experiences. The goal of the journey is to face skeptical objections to epistemic justification akin to those raised by the Agrippan trilemma, according to which reflexive evaluation cannot regress infinitely, be infinitely circular, nor depend upon some arbitrary instance. It is also question of clarifying, with the relevant nuances, the relation between judgment and freedom - a clarification that is of import to the more general question of epistemic agency.