Diagnosing Salient Alternative Effects
Chapter 10 addresses the salient alternative effects on knowledge ascriptions by developing the epistemic focal bias account. According to this account, denials of knowledge in the face of a salient alternative often amount to false negatives. But while this is argued to be central to a comprehensive diagnosis, it is recognized that other psychological factors may also influence this class of judgments, and some of these are discussed. Furthermore, the epistemic focal bias account is integrated with a number of assumptions drawn from cognitive pragmatics. In this manner, Chapter 10 provides an empirical account and philosophical diagnosis of the puzzling pattern of knowledge ascriptions constituted by salient alternative effects.