Permissivism and the Truth Problem

The debate over permissivism concerns whether a single body of evidence can rationally permit incompatible responses. A central issue in this debate is the so-called “truth problem,” which asks whether permissivism can accommodate the idea that rationality is truth- or accuracy-conducive. This paper offers a new response to this problem: we can either have an explanation of the accuracy-conduciveness of rationality that assumes the normativity of rationality or an explanation that doesn’t rely on this assumption; both permissivism and impermissivism are compatible with either approach. The conclusion is that neither permissivism nor impermissivism enjoys an advantage over the other in accommodating the accuracy-conduciveness of rationality.