The APA is pleased to announce that Heather Spradley (Harvard University) has been awarded the 2021 William James Prize for her paper, “Inquiring While Believing.”
The Eastern Division awards the William James Prize to the best paper in the area of American philosophy that is both (a) written by a philosopher who received their PhD within five years of the beginning of the calendar year in which the paper is submitted, or is a graduate student, and (b) accepted for inclusion in the Eastern Division program by the program committee through the normal process of anonymous reviewing.
From the selection committee: Spradley’s paper treats the relationship between two topics central to American Pragmatism: inquiry and belief. She makes the case that while it might seem impossible for a person to inquire into whether something is true if they already believe it, this combination of attitudes is not only possible but sometimes the rationally important to cultivate. Without combining inquiry and belief, Spradley argues, epistemic bubbles will form that impede living together cooperatively in political society. The paper brings into focus in an original and compelling a type of epistemic demand imposed by political association.
Heather Spradley is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University. Her research focuses on epistemology and ethics. Her dissertation is a defense of a thoroughly social epistemology.
