Conjecture and recognition

Abstract: In this essay I try to shed some light on the role that conjectural reasoning plays within Ferrara’s strategy to deal with pluralism. In the first section, I will attempt to determine which contexts prompt the recourse to conjecture and which problems it is called upon to solve. In the second section, I will try to offer a detailed reconstruction of the structure of conjectural reasoning. Finally, in the last section, I will put forth some critical remarks on the way Ferrara makes recourse to conjectural reasoning within The Democratic Horizon. The upshot will be that the recourse to conjecture may properly work only in those cases in which individuals already exhibit some relevant common traits that make them capable of recognizing each other as members of the same community