The Normative Profile of Agnosticism. Some Case Studies in the Philosophy of Mathematics

In this chapter, we build on Ferrari and Incurvati’s work in The Varieties of Agnosticism, where they use a question-and-answer heuristic to identify various agnostic stances. Our focus in this chapter is on examining the criteria of correctness for forming the minimal agnostic attitude and its various stances. The first goal is to explore the relationship between a subject’s agnosticism and the norms that govern their inquiry practices. In doing so, we distinguish between input norms (i.e., norms governing the formation of a mental attitude) and management norms (i.e., norms governing the maintenance and relinquishment of mental attitudes). We then apply this framework by analyzing two case studies from the philosophy of mathematics: Goldbach’s Conjecture and the Continuum Hypothesis. We conclude by observing that different agnostic stances are associated with distinct management norms.