ABSTRACT

A listener cannot acquire knowledge and epistemic grounds through transmission if she is aware of reasons against believing the speaker's testimony. This is because these considerations would defeat her acquisition of knowledge and epistemic grounds. The evidence from social psychology to show that the acquisition of epistemic grounds through testimony does not depend on the listener being aware of reasons for thinking that the speaker's testimony is true. The intuition that children do not acquire epistemic grounds for what they are told at the time that they receive testimony – and it is crucial that the intuition is that children acquire epistemic grounds at the time that they are told – does not strike as non-negotiable. The idea is that maintaining that a listener's acquisition of knowledge and epistemic grounds through transmission depends on her not being aware of reasons against believing the speaker's testimony, but not on her being aware of reasons for believing the speaker's testimony, is unprincipled.