Can Most of the People Really Be Wrong?

Abstract

This paper is centered on Rorty's construction of epistemic justification as communal assertive consensus and intends to present an argument against the identification of these notions. The objection exploits Rorty's own pragmatist view: it tries to show that understanding justification standards as historical and contextual is in conflict with reducing justification to consensus. First, Putnam's arguments against Rorty's view of justification are presented and evaluated, as well as Rorty's replies to these. Then, it is argued that our common sense notion of justification prevents its being identified with consensus, thus making way to the possibility that a majority be wrong about which of their beliefs are justified.