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Epistemic emotions and self-trust

Anna Bortolan Orcid Logo

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences

Swansea University Author: Anna Bortolan Orcid Logo

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Abstract

Epistemic emotions – namely affective phenomena like curiosity, certainty, and doubt – have been claimed to play a key role in epistemic evaluation and motivation, and, relatedly, to be an integral aspect of the epistemic virtues. In this paper I argue that the experience of epistemic emotions is ex...

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Published in: Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences
ISSN: 1568-7759 1572-8676
Published: Springer Nature 2024
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa67195
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Abstract: Epistemic emotions – namely affective phenomena like curiosity, certainty, and doubt – have been claimed to play a key role in epistemic evaluation and motivation, and, relatedly, to be an integral aspect of the epistemic virtues. In this paper I argue that the experience of epistemic emotions is extensively shaped by self-trust. More specifically, I claim that the set of epistemic emotions that we can undergo, and how these unfold over time, is modulated by the level of trust in one’s abilities as a knower. I do so by drawing on research on epistemic injustice, as well as through the exploration of some features of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression. I then argue that the connection between epistemic emotions and self-trust can be best accounted for by conceiving of self-trust, through the framework of philosophical phenomenology, as an affective background orientation which has a structuring role in our cognitive and affective experience.
Keywords: Epistemic emotions, epistemic feelings, self-trust, affective background orientations
College: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Funders: Swansea University