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Quote by Ernest Sosa

“Success is better than failure; an attempt is a better attempt, it is better as an attempt, if competent than if incompetent; and it is better to succeed through competence - aptly - than through sheer luck.”

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Ernest Sosa

Ernest Sosa is a renowned philosopher, born on June 17, 1940. His research focuses on metaphysics, epistemology, and moral philosophy. more

“Attempts are found in domains of human performance, such as sports, games, artistic domains, professional domains like medicine and the law, and so on. These feature distinctive aims, and corresponding competences. Archery, with its distinctive arrows and targets, divides into subdomains. Thus, competitive archery differs importantly from archery hunting.”

Humans Law Found Games Sports Performances Aim Medicine Artistic Features Target Divides Hunting Domain Competence Arrows Distinctive Corresponding Archery

Author:Ernest Sosa

“In competitive archery, risk assessment has minimal bearing on quality of performance, since the archer has so little choice over shot selection. By contrast, in a hunt, shots vary in quality according to how well selected they may be.”

Wells May Littles Choices Quality Risk Shots Performances Contrast Selection Hunts Vary Selected Assessment Archer Archery

Author:Ernest Sosa

“Normal adults can doodle, amble, and drift with no need to assess risk, since there is normally no risk at all. Jazz improvisation seems less subject to standards of risk than surgery, and less than much formal athletic performance, as in a tennis match.”

Needs Seems Risk Subjects Normal Standards Adults Performances Jazz Tennis Formal Surgery Athletic Improvisation Jazz Improvisation Athletic Performance

Author:Ernest Sosa

“The success of an archery shot may bring food to the hunter's starving family, or may constitute a horrible murder. But these outcomes are irrelevant to the assessment of that shot as a hunter-archery shot, as an attempt to hit prey without running excessive risk of failure.”

May Running Risk Shots Murder Horrible Outcomes Irrelevant Hunters Prey Starving Assessment Archery

Author:Ernest Sosa

“If a shot aimed at aptness succeeds aptly, it is then fully apt, since it is not only apt but also aptly apt. But the full aptness of such an attempt is entirely compatible with its being a horrible murder, if the "hunter" is an assassin and the prey his victim. That hunter's shot may still be outstandingly, fully apt, if it manifests the agent's competence in both archery dexterity and shot selection.”

Ifs May Stills Succeed Shots Murder Victim Horrible Agents Hunters Selection Prey Competence Assassins Compatible Archery Dexterity

Author:Ernest Sosa

“We must distinguish judging from guessing.”

Judging Guessing

Author:Ernest Sosa

“Judgment is affirmation with the intention to thereby affirm competently enough, and indeed aptly. That distinguishes judgments from mere guesses.”

Enough Judgment Intention Mere Affirmation

Author:Ernest Sosa

“In order to qualify as a judgment, an affirmation must aim at getting it right aptly, through competence, and not just through a lucky guess.”

Order Lucky Judgment Aim Affirmation Competence

Author:Ernest Sosa

“Given its more substantial aim, a judgment is apt only if its constitutive alethic affirmation is not only apt but aptly apt. The subject must attain aptly not only the truth of his affirmation but also its aptness. And that in turn requires not only the proper operation of one's perception, memory, inference, etc., but also that one deploy such competences through competent epistemic risk assessment.”

Ifs Turns Given Memories Risk Subjects Judgment Perception Aim Operations Etc Affirmation Competence Competent Assessment Inference

Author:Ernest Sosa

“A hunter archer can also be out to shock by taking crazy shots. What makes his shots "crazy" is set by excessive risk, judged by hunting-archery standards, which would tend to draw agreement from knowledgeable observers.”

Risk Crazy Draws Standards Shots Shock Agreement Judged Hunting Hunters Observers Knowledgeable Archer Archery

Author:Ernest Sosa

Quote by Ernest Sosa

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