Abstract

When we doubt a belief, we examine how things look from a perspective in which that belief is set aside.  Sometimes we care about what that perspective recommends and, as a result, we abandon the belief we've been doubting.  Other times we don't: we recognize that a perspective in which a certain belief is set aside recommends abandoning it, but we go on believing it anyway.  Why is this?  In this paper, I'll consider and then reject some proposals concerning when to defer to the perspective of doubt.  I'll argue that ultimately the question of whether to defer to doubt on any given occasion can’t be answered through rational deliberation.