Self-Aware Believing and Skepticism About Philosophy

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This chapter discusses the worry that accounts of rationality which take HOE seriously entail that philosophers are often not rational to have high confidence in the controversial theories that they defend. It argues that this mild sort of skepticism need not betray any sort of spinelessness on the subject’s part. It also discusses the prospects for doing philosophy without having high confidence in one’s favored theories. It argues that the evidence we all have about the reliability of philosophical thinking shows that philosophers can’t expect to arrive at true, detailed, substantive theories. However, it argues that this fact is quite independent of any account of rational belief. And it argues that the account of rationality developed in the book makes it rational to do philosophy without being committed to implausibly inflated self-assessments.</jats:p>