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Phin Upham, Beliefs, Justified Beliefs

by Phin Upham

Having a justified belief does require you to know that your belief is justified but it does not require you to know what this justification is.  You need not be able to defend your beliefs against criticism.  In holding these beliefs I take the Weak Internalist position.  Most of our beliefs are clearly supported by others.  I believe that this is Harvard University because I have gathered an enormous amount of convergent evidence that support this belief.  The evidence that I gathered, in turn rests on other evidence, and so on.  But does this chain continue forever, or are there some beliefs at the end of this chain that support other beliefs but are not in turn supported by anything and yet are immediately justified?  We can call these beliefs (if they exist) basic beliefs and the view that basic beliefs exist is called Foundationalism.  But does the idea of basic beliefs make sense, or must even these basic beliefs have some sort of justification in order to be justified.  The argument that justified belief must have a basis is a denial of Foundationalism.

BonJour argues against Foundationalism by pointing out that to know something required epistemic justification and that epistemic justification is by nature necessarily truth seeking.  Next he claims that you must have good reason to believe that a belief is true in order to say that it is justified.  If you do not establish this connection you are epistemically irresponsible.  But if this is true, then in order to be justified in holding a belief at any time, you must hold some reason to believe that that view is justified.  By thus concluding that a person must be in cognitive possession of some fact that makes a belief likely to be true, BonJour has squared off against the Foundationalist.  His last blow is directed at basic beliefs themselves.  He claims that they are either cognitive states, and therefor requiring justification, or they are not like cognitive states, then it is hard to see how the intuition justifies the belief.  BonJour’s argument has many flaws, and it seems to depend overly on the connection between epistemic justification and epistemic responsibility.  Nevertheless, at its core lies a convincing argument: in order for a belief to be justified it must lean toward the truth, so in order for someone to be justified in holding it, they must be in cognitive possetion of evidence that it leans toward the truth.

While I am satisfied that in order for a belief to be justified we must cognitively have evidence that it is justified (i.e. that it tends toward the truth), it is not clear, from BonJour’s argument, that we must be aware of this cognitive evidence.  It is this point that Alston attacks.  Alston holds that he is a Weak Internalist.  It is enough, for Alston, that the belief acquirable through internal introspection and reflection, and not directly known.  Lastly, Alston argues against the idea that being justified in believing something means you are necessarily able to defend it against criticism is counter-intuitive.  These authors are convincing in their arguments.  BonJour makes a good case that justification is truth seeking by its very nature.  If this is true, then it seems that the Foundationalist indeed has a problem justifying his basic beliefs immediately.  I agree with Alston that we need not know that something is true in order to have cognitive possession of it.  It does seem enough that introspection and reflection can arrive at justifications for a belief.  I find Alston’s final point that we need not be able to defend out beliefs against criticism most interesting and most true.  Steward Hampshire would agree with Alston. When he said “[if challenged] I would give you grounds for believing my statement, although I would not give youmy grounds, or evidence, or source.[1]”  It does seem that the reasons we give for believing something are not necessarily the reasons we internally use in justifying our beliefs.  Often our internal reasons are unconscious, often they are intuitive.  There is a difference between being justified in a belief and being able to justify a belief.

This article is brought to you by The Contrarian Macro

About the Author

Phin Upham is an investor who lives in NYC and San Francisco.  He has studied at Harvard University and Wharton Business School (UPenn) and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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An crash can happen any time at all. Thousands of accidents transpire every single day, and if you assume you’re totally safe in Utah, you’re not. 2009 Stats show which an unbelievable 51,367 mishaps, where 127,047 individuals had been involved. Of those, approximately 18%, or 22,947 folks have been hurt and 244 individuals were killed in traffic collisions. Even though all across the board, the number of accidents went  down from 2008, which’s still virtually 1 crash each 6 minutes in the state of Utah. You may find yourself in need of a  Provo auto accident lawyer. Every time you get in an accident, you have to understand the legal rights. The right to just remuneration if you are not the guilty party, and even if you’re partially at fault, you may find you need another person in your corner to battle for you. Time is of the essence immediately after an incident — hang on too long and your rights could be forfeited. Which’s why you’d need a   Utah personal injury attorney, to help you through this and calm your concerns of a lengthy complex authorized struggle.  If you need an attorney, it is easy to find one at www.provolawyers.com — where all these lawyers specialize in are attorneys just near the metropolis of Provo. Problems can be critical business in the state of Utah. Insane speeders, reckless teenagers, careless drunk motorists, also motorcyclists and bicyclists all can lead to accidents and you may be hurt for many years to come right after an car or truck incident. Insurance companies may always screw up with you and try to lowball you with a agreement that will get you off their backs, so you need a Utah personal injury attorney that will stand up for your legal rights. Whether or not you need an injury lawyer or you get sued and need another person that can best defend your interests, look up and locate a legal adviser that’s correct for you at www.provolawyers.com. Whatever your legal problems, it’s easy to end up sued, and you may end up in an collision any minute. It is possible to relax easier at night time understanding that Provo accident lawyers are available for you.

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Unemployment, Competitive Advantage

Unemployment and America’s competitive advantage is discussed in an article by Phin Upham.

Recent work by the OECD sheds light on the dynamics of big business and small business sectors of developed countries. Data collected by governments across the world suggests that the US has a relatively small business sector compared to other developed countries. A recent study places the US as second only to Luxembourg in how small a percent of GDP the United States’ small business sector is, well below European competitors. This holds no matter how you cut it, from focusing on manufacturing, by excluding farmers, or even looking at technology alone. The statistics suggest, contrary to expectations, that what America excels in in small businesses, rather, is not their number or size, but the ability to let them fail or scale into very large companies. The difficulty of this should not be underestimated and is among the central problems China’s fractured corporate markets struggle with today.

This holds even more true when we examine the value added by different sized businesses ‘”statistically the US also has one of the lowest value add by small businesses in the world and, unexpectedly, statistically one of the highest value add by large companies. President Coolidge said “the business of the American people is business” ‘” in the modern world, for better or worse, this seems to increasingly be big business.

-       “We honor the entrepreneurs and small business owners who are the engine of our economy… Our nations success depends on America’s small business and entrepreneurs”   – President Barack Obama

-       “Small business is where national prosperity begins… Small businesses such as Main Street retailers, entrepreneurs, independent contractors, and direct sellers create most of the country’s new jobs.” – Republican Party Platform

Recent work by the OECD [1] sheds light on the dynamics of big business and small business sectors of developed countries. Data collected by governments across the world suggests that the US has a relatively small business sector compared to other developed countries. A recent study[2]places the US as second only to Luxembourg in how small a percent of GDP the United States’ small business sector is, well below European competitors. This holds no matter how you cut it, from focusing on manufacturing, by excluding farmers, or even looking at technology alone. The statistics suggest, contrary to expectations, that what America excels in in small businesses, rather, is not their number or size, but the ability to let them fail or scale into very large companies. The difficulty of this should not be underestimated and is among the central problems China’s fractured corporate markets struggle with today.
 
The rest of this article can be found on Venture Cap Monthly 
About the Author

Phin Upham is an investor who lives in NYC and San Francisco.  He has studied at Harvard University and Wharton Business School (UPenn) and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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Over the last decade, the popularity and the need for alternative energy sources have grown. People are researching for ways to help the environment, lower their current electrical bills and many other things that tend to lead them to solar energy. The definition of this type of energy is basically the heat and radiant light from the sun. This is not something that only started over the last decade though, there is proof that this was done in ancient times as well.

There are several ways that people are utilizing solar energy including fully powering their homes and cars. Advances in the technology have made it so that people are able to store the resources that are gathered with the solar panels that are placed on homes. There have actually been stories where people have received credits from their power company because of all the energy that they were able to gather with their panels. This is considered a renewable energy source, which is what most people are searching for when looking for alternatives to what is considered the norm in many areas.

There are actually courses that people can attend to learn more about their options in regards to solar energy. These classes will help people understand the history and the current advancements in the technology. Once a person understands all of the facts, then he or she can make an informed decision on how to proceed. Many will not want to change anything with their homes or lives, while others will want to make home improvements immediately after learning the facts.

Solar energy is not alone in the list of alternative power sources that a person may choose. Some of the renewable energy sources that are often mentioned as well include biofuel, wind power, hydroelectricity and geothermal. When a person starts the research process these will be things that he or she will learn about as well. It is important for a person to learn as much as possible to truly feel that the best decision is being made in reference to his or her conservation efforts. Renewable energy sources will continue to grow in popularity as time passes.

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Some people think that since they are on facebook, they have to accept all friend requests that they receive. But that is just a miscalculated move that sees them acquire stalkers as friends. The only way to safeguard your interests when it comes to facebook and other social sites is to maintain your privacy. If you have no idea who the person is, don’t even think twice, ignore that request. If you insist on accepting the request, then know that you have put Facebook privacy to no use. You should be on the fore front of making sure that you do not endanger yourself in any way. It is up to you to make up your mind and when you don’t do it, then you are solely to blame. All networking sites put measures to protect their subscribers. But it is up to the subscribers to utilize the measures provided. For your MySpace profile, you can choose whom you want as a friend and who you don’t want to become acquainted with you. You have the freedom to choose and you should not listen to anyone’s opinion as to whom you should be in contact with. Really, the whole point of getting into these sites is to find your long lost friends or generally to connect with your friends. There is no pressure that you must meet new friends. Even if you do meet them, make sure you first vet them before divulging any important information about yourself. However, it’s better to meet new friends out in the streets because you will take your sweet time knowing what they are like before making any commitments to them. Meeting on the net offers no time to know each other before swapping details of your life.

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When you live in a very wooded area you have to be creative in finding the best way to exercise and to enjoy the fresh air. It is too difficult and expensive to make your way to the gym every few days a week when it is a few miles away and the gas prices are through the roof. Instead why not find a few good trails around your area that you will be able to walk and get a great work out?

In order to do this though you have to make sure that you are wearing the right type of women’s hiking boots. Otherwise you will find your feet covered in a whole lot of blisters, sore, and possibly even risking injury to your muscles, tendons, and joints. It is time to go shopping!

The best ones that I have found and love to wear are the Merrell women’s hiking boots. They make some of the most durable on the market and are perfect for those women who wish to walk the trail rather than trying to run it and possibly breaking our necks. These are durable enough to handle any trail you take them down without hurting your feet.

They are also made with material that is thick to prevent water from seeping through and soaking your feet. They might be a bit pricey – but they will last you for years and are going to provide you with great protection so that you are able to get the best work out that is possible.

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Divorce isn’t as easy as marriage. If you want to get married quickly and spontaneously you just jump in Vegas and finish with all of it in half an hour. After that you are legally married just as you would be planning the wedding in every single detail and dragging it as long as you like. With divorce is a lot different. An acquaintance of mine tied to end her marriage fast and painlessly, but then she hit some complications that she didn’t expect.

First of all signing the papers doesn’t mean that you are divorced. That is only the first of many steps that people who want to divorce one another need to do.  Maybe “no fault” divorces sound like they are easy to have and simple to agree on, but a lot of unexpected problems are lurking just behind them. This is a tough period where people lose confidence in themselves. Every decision you make looks wrong and any uncertainty will eventually end up in a fight with your spouse and in court. Dragging your case in court isn’t the best course. This will take a lot time, effort and money to get resolved and it is not guaranteed that you would like it in the end.

The best advice that I got from the acquaintance that has gone through all of this was to lawyer up. The best cincinnati divorce lawyer you can find will make your case look better and will make the things fall into place. She didn’t have much choice in the length of the process but was satisfied with her cincinnati divorce attorney. In her own words, you can’t realize how many legal things there are waiting for you until you live through a divorce yourself. It is almost impossible to pull through the way you should without the skilled guidance of a cincinnati divorce attorney. 

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tax attorney, tax lawyers, tax law attorney

The interesting thing about paying taxes in the United States is the fact that people can actually sometimes negotiate with the Internal Revenue Service regarding the amount of taxes owed and in some circumstances when a person finds that they are unable to pay a tax debt, tax lawyers are able to argue on the behalf of the tax payer with the IRS regarding the final amount of money that has to be paid. Just because a person happens to owe money to the IRS doesn’t actually mean that every cent needs to be paid.

Depending on the circumstances of the individual it’s possible that the IRS will take a lesser amount when it comes to settling the debt. Without the advice of an attorney or tax professional it’s often difficult to assess the tax liability and negotiate without knowing just how much the Internal Revenue Service might be willing to take off of a particular level of tax debt. A lawyer or tax professional has often argued and negotiated with the Internal Revenue Service many times in the past and will know exactly what sort of negotiation and reduction in total debt to request for a client.

The IRS is often willing to work with an individual regarding a lesser tax debt for the simple reason that it may cost the government less money to negotiate with someone than it will to have a long, drawn out battle with a tax payer who doesn’t or can’t pay the entire amount requested.

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