Richard Pettigrew

@wiglet1981.bsky.social

3907 Followers 1123 Following

Philosopher at University of Bristol 🏳️‍🌈 he/him https://richardpettigrew.github.io Books: Epistemic Risk and the Demands of Rationality | Choosing for Changing Selves | Dutch Book Arguments | Accuracy and the Laws of Credence | Who Are Universities For?

Believe truth! Shun error!—these, we see, are two materially different laws; and by choosing between them we may end by coloring differently our whole intellectual life. We may regard the chase for truth as paramount, and the avoidance of error as secondary; or we may, on the other hand, treat the avoidance of error as more imperative, and let truth take its chance. Clifford, in the instructive passage which I have quoted, exhorts us to the latter course. Believe nothing, he tells us, keep your mind in suspense forever, rather than by closing it on insufficient evidence incur the awful risk of believing lies. You, on the other hand, may think that the risk of being in error is a very small matter when compared with the blessings of real knowledge, and be ready to be duped many times in your investigation rather than postpone indefinitely the chance of guessing true. I myself find it impossible to go with Clifford. We must remember that these feelings of our duty about either truth or error are in any case only expressions of our passional life. Biologically considered, our minds are as ready to grind out falsehood as veracity, and he who says, "Better go without belief forever than believe a lie!" merely shows his own preponderant private horror of becoming a dupe. He may be critical of many of his desires and fears, but this fear he slavishly obeys. He cannot imagine any one questioning its binding force. For my own part, I have also a horror of being duped; but I can believe that worse things than being duped may happen to a man in this world: so Clifford's exhortation has to my ears a thoroughly fantastic sound. It is like a general informing his soldiers that it is better to keep out of battle forever than to risk a single wound. Not so are victories either over enemies or over nature gained. Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn things. In a world where we are so certain to incur them in spite of all our caution, a certain lightness of heart seems healt…
A black cat approaches the camera with a look of eager curiosity
SEXUAL A THREE-DAY CONFERENCE AGENCY 1 - 3 July 2026 9am - 6pm Goethe Universität Frankfurt Normative Orders Building Organised by Manon Garcia and Milena Bartholain. For participation, please register with: Bartholain@em.uni-frankfurt.de GOETHE UNIVERSITAT FRANKFURT AM MAIN DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft NORMATIVE ORDERS Forschungsrestrum der Goethe-Universitat
Cockenzie coal power station pictured with two tall chimneys and a turbine hall with the firth of forth in the background
Cheryl Misak’s Oxford Pragmatism book
A portacabin belonging to the construction firm ‘SureFire’
Poster for workshop: EPISTEMOLOGY: NORMAL MEETS FORMAL WITH BOOK SYMPOSIUM ON RICHARD PETTIGREW'S •THE VALUE OF INFORMATION AND THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF INQUIRY' June 22-23 2026, University of Oxford SPEAKERS SAM CARTER (UCL) CHRISTOPH KELP (GLASGOW) MARIA LASONEN (HELSINKI) JESSIE MUNTON (CAMBRIDGE) RICHARD PETTIGREW (BRISTOL) BERNHARD SALOW (OXFORD) MONA SIMION (OXFORD)
Foxglove
Departure board reads 12:12 Penzance - Cancelled 12:12 Penzance - On time
Very sweet tortoiseshell cat with startling white paws and exceptional whiskers
Poster for L. A. Paul’s Rudolf Carnap lectures for 2026.
Black and white cat eyes a box of borders butterscotch biscuits
Orange cat looking wistful
Orange cat closes his eyes, enjoys the head scritchies, and displays his exceptionally splendid whiskers for the camera
Entirely unrepentant vigilante defender of private property rights, a white and orange cat sits on a wall looking combative
comprise verb [T, L only + noun, not continuous ] • formal UK 4) /kam'praız/ US 4) /kam'praız/ Add to word list = C1 to have things or people as parts or members; to consist of: • The course comprises a class book, a practice book, and a CD. +注 to be the parts or members of something; to make up something: • Italian students comprise 60 percent of the class. • The class is comprised
Blue irises
A black and white cat facing the camera and posing like they’re at the met gala
Black cat licking their lips with Victorian houses behind
St Abb’s head, east coast of Scotland. Looking down from a cliff top trail into a little cove with the firth of forth behind.
The Bluesky app showing ‘Forbidden’.
Tulips and bluebells in the foreground, a Victorian church tower and blue sky in the background
The intricately carved red sandstone of the fort against blue sky with some light white clouds
Looking up from the floor to the painted wooden ceiling of a colonnade that borders an inner courtyard in the palace. The walls are tiled in geometric blue and white patterns.
A relaxed but alert black and white cat
it’s a kettle. Just an ordinary kitchen kettle. For making tea. Not a ridiculous machine for using ridiculous ‘pods’. Is it too much to ask?
Tweet from an account WH: don't like horses. credulous quadrupeds lowering bridled elongate heads to drink ponds dry or annihilate a tuft of innocent grass. The horse frolics like a rock rolls down a slope: because it is obeying a law. The shrewd pig plays because it is the pleasure he has *chosen*
A tweet from an account called mtobey. "Anybody here named Jeff?" Jeff: "Yes" Geoff: "Yeos"
Pink trees in front of a Princeton building
A cat sits against a grey wall, desperately trying to stay awake
Prof. Richard Pettigrew University of Bristol, UK What is epistemic normativity, and why? Date: 23 March 2026 (Monday) Time : 16:45 - 18:15 Venue: LKK303 & Zoom Seminar Scan the QR code or click HERE to join the zoom meeting room. What is the distinction between what we ought to believe simpliciter and what we ought to believe epistemically speaking, and why do we draw that distinction? I motivate this question through a series of examples, consider various existing answers, and find them wanting. Then I propose and explore an alternative based on a version of rule consequentialism transposed to the epistemic realm: the norms that determine what we ought to do epistemically speaking are those such that broad adherence to them across your epistemic community would give the best results from an epistemic point of view. I argue that norms that exhort us to believe only what we ought to believe epistemically speaking follow from this epistemic version of rule consequentialism. In a coda, I offer an alternative account of the function of knowledge ascriptions that improves on Edward Craig's.
An Oregon-based archaeologist is the latest scientist attempting to find Amelia Earhart's long-lost plane and solve the baffling 88-year mystery surrounding her and flight navigator Fred Noonan's disappearances. Dr. Richard Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute in Eugene, has assembled a team of about 10 scientists will launch an expedition this summer to the remote island of Nikumaroro in the western Pacific Ocean to find Earhart's Lockheed 10-E Electra. After years of acquiring and analyzing satellite, video and drone imagery, Pettigrew believes a metallic and reflective visual anomaly, called the Taraia Object, on the north shore of the Nikumaroro lagoon alongside the Taraia Peninsula is the main body and tail of the missing aircraft.
King Lear, Act I Scene I GONERIL   Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty, Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare, No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honor; As much as child e’er loved, or father found; A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable. Beyond all manner of so much I love you. LEAR As a friendly reminder, please ensure interactions adhere to the guidelines provided. Let me know how you would like to proceed.
A long-tailed tit stares at the camera, challenging the viewer to question its elevated status in the hierarchy of great Britons
Call for Applications 8th Urbino Summer School in Epistemology University of Urbino Carlo Bo - Department of Pure and Applied Sciences. Urbino, August 31 - September 3, 2026. Under the auspices of: The Italian Society for Analytic Philosophy (SIFA) The Italian Society for Logic and the Philosophy of Science (SILFS) Lecturers Jennifer Lackey (Northwestern University) Anne Meylan (University of ZĂźrich) Marco Nathan (University of Denver) Richard Pettigrew (University of Bristol) Overview The goal of the four days in-person Summer School is to provide an opportunity for highly motivated graduate students (or even advanced undergraduate students), and early-career researchers to learn, discuss and exchange ideas about current epistemological issues in close contact with internationally renowned experts. There will be two kinds of sessions on each of the four days: lectures in the morning, and parallel group sessions in the afternoon. The lectures will be delivered by our Lecturers, and will focus on both general and specific aspects of their current work. Each lecture will comprise approximately 45-50 minutes of presentation, and 20 minutes for Q&A. Each group session will be led by a different Lecturer, and will take a laboratory format. In order to allow the participants to engage in open discussion, these sessions are based on specific texts read in advance. A reading list will be provided in due course by the Lecturers. Each student will hence have the opportunity to attend 16 lectures and 4 group sessions during the 4 days. Of course, there will be ample room for intellectual and philosophical exchanges outside of these academic activities, in the beautiful setting of late summer evenings offered by Urbino.
Poster for the summer school. The image is of the Italian town of Urbino. The text reads: 8TH URBINO SUMMER SCHOOL IN EPISTEMOLOGY URBINO, AUG 31 - SEP 03 2026 University of Urbino Carlo Bo Department of Pure and Applied Sciences Lecturers: Jennifer Lackey Northwestern University Anne Meylan University of ZĂźrich Marco Nathan University of Denver Richard Pettigrew University of Bristol For info, please contact: adriano.angelucci@uniurb.it daniele.sgaravatti@unibo.it m.antonelli17@campus.uniurb.it
Black and white photo of a young girl standing in a garden holding the world’s fluffiest cat and looking extremely pleased with the situation
This footnote should be read after sec. 3 and presupposes what I have said there. It provides a few references to statements by leading utilitarians of the summary conception. In general it appears that when they discussed the logical features of rules the summary conception prevailed and that it was typical of the way they talked about moral rules. I cite a rather lengthy group of passages from Austin as a full illustration. John Austin in his Lectures on Jurisprudence meets the objection that deciding
A baboon sleeps slumped on the branch of a tree, one arm hanging down
An angry coucal sitting on a thorny bush
An enormous crocodile lies on the river bank with mouth open
A tawny eagle on a tree, looking over its shoulder towards the camera
An information poster about studying philosophy at university of Bristol with an image of a skeleton skewering a peasant as illustration
A jackal, standing in long grass with sunlight just behind, stares at the camera
A very round, surprisingly blue bird sits on a dead branch
A very cheerful dog sits under a chair on a train, tongue out, being a very good boy.
A hoopoe sits on a branch looking to the right
A leopard looks to the left of the camera
A bee-eater with a white throat, black eye stripe, green back and blue tail sits on a twig looking right
A shy vervet monkey hides behind a branch
A maribou stork strides out across the grasslands, throwing a brutal side eye as they go
A lizard with a ridiculously blue body and a ridiculously red head looks up cautiously from a dead tree stump
A red-billed hornbill sits in a tree looking splendid
A young male lion looks at the ground and bleps
A carmine bee-eater sits on a dead tree looking over their shoulder