Meanings
- uncountableepistemologyThe belief that certain disagreements (even about facts) ultimately stem from differing values, and therefore cannot be resolved as factual disagreements.
Most who have argued for evaluativism have been interested in establishing skepticism, and have assumed that evaluativism implied skepticism.
1989, Raymond Martin, The Past Within Us: An Empirical Approach to Philosophy of History, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 972 more examples
[E]valutivism makes plain that any attempt to justify a rule (ultimately by a rule-circular argument) will be an attempt for rules we value and will depend on rules we value (our basic inferential rules).
2007, Stathis Psillos, “Putting a Bridle on Irrationality: An Appraisal of van Fraassen's New Epistemology”, in Bradley Monton, editor, Images of empiricism: essays on science and stances, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 154There is prima facie something deeply unappealing about evaluativism: our intuitions rebel at the suggestion that reasonableness is 'not a factual property' and that '[i]n calling a rule reasonable we are evaluating it, and all that makes sense to ask about is what we value'.
2008, Carrie S Jenkins, Grounding Concepts: An Empirical Basis for Arithmetical Knowledge: An Empirical Basis for Arithmetical Knowledge, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 68
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Cite this entry
evaluativism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/evaluativism
“evaluativism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/evaluativism. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “evaluativism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/evaluativism.
Source: evaluativism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.