Uploaded September 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Today I'm speaking with Dr. Michael Huemer about phenomenal conservatism, a theory in epistemology that seeks to ground justified beliefs in the way things “appear” or “seem” to the subject who holds that belief. We discuss a wide range of issues in epistemology, including internalism vs. externalism, justified true belief, proper functionalism, the epistemic value of psychedelic experiences, religious experiences, radical skepticism, knowledge, conceptual analysis, intuition, and much else.
Michael Huemer is a professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado. He is the author of more than seventy academic articles in epistemology, ethics, metaethics, metaphysics, and political philosophy, as well as several books, including Skepticism and the Veil of Perception, Ethical Intuitionism, Paradox Lost, and Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism, and his new book, Knowledge, Reality, and Value: A Mostly Common Sense Guide to Philosophy.
/ PC: If it seems to S that P, then, in the absence of defeaters, S thereby has at least some justification for believing that P. /
Michael’s Website owl232.net
Phenomenal Conservatism - IEP https://iep.utm.edu/phen-con/
Compassionate Phenomenal Conservatism onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1933-1592.2007.00002.x
MH YouTube Channel youtube.com/channel/UCLWWaaXEG-6fQwPQDYTBGxw
/ / /
https://linktr.ee/emersongreen
Follow on Twitter @waldenpod and @OnPanpsychism
Listen to and review Counter Apologetics: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counter-apologetics/id1273573417
Listen to Walden Pod: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/walden-pod/id1474408172
Support at Patreon.com/counter or /waldenpod
/ timestamps /
00:00 introduction and basic definition
05:03 PC in the online atheist and theist communities
08:46 worries about radical skepticism
10:21 what is a defeater?
12:05 internalism vs. externalism
18:04 justified true belief
20:29 Huemer's take on knowledge
21:37 the failure of conceptual analysis
27:24 knowledge and justified true belief (cont.)
29:49 last-ditch pragmatism and foundational values
36:42 psychedelic and mystical experiences
42:52 proper functionalism and knowledge
47:53 religious experience and defeaters
54:33 intuitions
1:04:46 this is already how we do things
1:06:13 are all non-PC alternatives self-defeating?
1:11:32 common sense & skepticism in philosophy
1:17:23 rationalism vs. empiricism
1:23:19 crazy appearances (schizophrenia, past life memories, etc.)
1:35:36 weighing premises vs. the conclusion
1:39:42 goodbye
Today I'm speaking with Dr. Michael Huemer about phenomenal conservatism, a theory in epistemology that seeks to ground justified beliefs in the way things “appear” or “seem” to the subject who holds that belief. We discuss a wide range of issues in epistemology, including internalism vs. externalism, justified true belief, proper functionalism, the epistemic value of psychedelic experiences, religious experiences, radical skepticism, knowledge, conceptual analysis, intuition, and much else.
Michael Huemer is a professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado. He is the author of more than seventy academic articles in epistemology, ethics, metaethics, metaphysics, and political philosophy, as well as several books, including Skepticism and the Veil of Perception, Ethical Intuitionism, Paradox Lost, and Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism, and his new book, Knowledge, Reality, and Value: A Mostly Common Sense Guide to Philosophy.
/ PC: If it seems to S that P, then, in the absence of defeaters, S thereby has at least some justification for believing that P. /
Michael’s Website owl232.net
Phenomenal Conservatism - IEP https://iep.utm.edu/phen-con/
Compassionate Phenomenal Conservatism onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1933-1592.2007.00002.x
MH YouTube Channel youtube.com/channel/UCLWWaaXEG-6fQwPQDYTBGxw
/ / /
https://linktr.ee/emersongreen
Follow on Twitter @waldenpod and @OnPanpsychism
Listen to and review Counter Apologetics: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counter-apologetics/id1273573417
Listen to Walden Pod: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/walden-pod/id1474408172
Support at Patreon.com/counter or /waldenpod
/ timestamps /
00:00 introduction and basic definition
05:03 PC in the online atheist and theist communities
08:46 worries about radical skepticism
10:21 what is a defeater?
12:05 internalism vs. externalism
18:04 justified true belief
20:29 Huemer's take on knowledge
21:37 the failure of conceptual analysis
27:24 knowledge and justified true belief (cont.)
29:49 last-ditch pragmatism and foundational values
36:42 psychedelic and mystical experiences
42:52 proper functionalism and knowledge
47:53 religious experience and defeaters
54:33 intuitions
1:04:46 this is already how we do things
1:06:13 are all non-PC alternatives self-defeating?
1:11:32 common sense & skepticism in philosophy
1:17:23 rationalism vs. empiricism
1:23:19 crazy appearances (schizophrenia, past life memories, etc.)
1:35:36 weighing premises vs. the conclusion
1:39:42 goodbye
