The Special Value of Epistemic Self‐Reliance

Philosophers have long held that epistemic self‐reliance has a special value. But, this view has recently been challenged by prominent epistemologist Linda Zagzebski. Zagzebski argues that potential sources of support for the claim that epistemic self‐reliance has a special value fail. Here I provide a novel defense of the special value of epistemic self‐reliance. Self‐reliance has a special value because it is required for attaining certain valuable cognitive achievements. Further, practicing self‐reliance may be all‐things‐considered worthwhile even when doing so is a less reliable way of getting to the truth than relying on others and even when doing so is flatly unreliable in getting to the truth.