Editing Reflective equilibrium (section)

{{Short description|State of balance among a set of beliefs, arrived at by considering general principles}}
{{refimprove|date=February 2011}}
'''Reflective equilibrium''' is a state of [[Balance (metaphysics)|balance]] or coherence among a set of beliefs arrived at by a process of deliberative mutual adjustment among general principles and particular [[judgement]]s.  Although he did not use the term, philosopher [[Nelson Goodman]] introduced the method of reflective equilibrium as an approach to [[theory of justification|justifying]] the ''principles'' of [[inductive logic]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Daniels |first=Norman |author-link=Norman Daniels |date=14 October 2016 |title=Reflective equilibrium |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/reflective-equilibrium/ |encyclopedia=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |access-date=27 December 2016}}</ref> (this is now known as '''Goodman's method'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->).<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1007/s11229-018-02051-2|title = Philosophical methods under scrutiny: Introduction to the special issue philosophical methods|journal = Synthese|year = 2018|last1 = Eder|first1 = Anna-Maria A.|last2 = Lawler|first2 = Insa|last3 = Van Riel|first3 = Raphael| volume=197 | issue=3 | pages=915–923 |url = http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/15453/8/Philosophical%20Methods%20Under%20Scrutiny_Eder%2CLawler%2CvanRiel_final.pdf|doi-access = free}}</ref>  The term ''reflective equilibrium'' was coined by [[John Rawls]] and popularized in his ''[[A Theory of Justice]]'' as a method for arriving at the content of the principles of justice.

{{ill|Dietmar Hübner|de}} has pointed out that there are many interpretations of reflective equilibrium that deviate from Rawls' method in ways that reduce the cogency of the idea.<ref name="Hübner">{{cite journal |last=Hübner |first=Dietmar |date=January 2017 |title=Three remarks on 'reflective equilibrium': on the use and misuse of Rawls' balancing concept in contemporary ethics |journal=[[Philosophical Inquiry]] |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=11–40 |doi=10.5840/philinquiry20174112|url=https://philpapers.org/rec/HBNTRO }}</ref> Among these misinterpretations, according to Hübner, are definitions of reflective equilibrium as "(a) balancing theoretical accounts against intuitive convictions; (b) balancing general principles against particular judgements; (c) balancing opposite ethical conceptions or divergent moral statements".<ref name="Hübner"/>