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Sophisticated yet accessible and easy to read, this introduction to contemporary philosophical questions about knowledge and rationality goes beyond the usual bland survey of the major current views to show that there is argument involved. Throughout, the author provides a fair and balanced blending of the standard positions on epistemology with his own carefully reasoned positions or stances into the analysis of each concept. Epistemological Questions. The Traditional Analysis of Knowledge. Modifying the Traditional Analysis of Knowledge. Evidentialist Theories of Justification. Non-evidentialist Theories of Knowledge and Justification. Skepticism. Epistemology and Science. Relativism. For anyone interested in the philosophy of knowledge and rationality.

Customer Reviews (6)

Best Epistemology Text Ever
This is the best epistemology text on the market and a model of clarity.It covers the vast majority of what an instructor would want to treat in an undergraduate course, and it does so in a straightforward, easy style.Although Feldman argues for some particular views on substantive, controversial issues, he fairly provides the standard objections to major views, including his own. I very highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand major issues and problems of contemporary analytic epistemology.

The Nuts and Bolts of Epistemology
We always make references like "Jets fans are irrational if they think their team will win" or "atheists are irrational if they believe in mind independent moral facts" but we do not generally explain what this means. That is what epistemology does. It is arguably the most important branch of philosophy. You can read a lot of shallow introductions but ultimately gain little understanding. You need to dive into the deep end of the pool and work hard. That's what this book lets you do. It is written clearly and simply with a minimum of jargon. It also does not assume any knowledge of philosophy. You could read and understand this book as a complete beginner. But you will have to read slowly and carefully.

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What is Knowledge?
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Knowledge is a true belief that is held for a rational reason. It is rational to believe that it will rain based on the weather forecast, but not on your horoscope. However, philosophers use the word 'justified' instead of 'rational' so we'll switch to that. Knowledge is a justified true belief. The book then gets into the Gettier-style cases which challenge this view of knowledge. Feldman takes the view that knowledge consists of justified true beliefs that do not essentially depend on falsehood. I would put it this way: knowledge is justified true belief in which there are no successful defeaters for your justification. E.g. suppose you formed that belief that it would rain based on the weather forecast, but unknown to you, the newspaper made a mistake and printed the wrong forecast. The real forecast was for sun. Yet, oddly enough, it did rain. You have a true belief that it would rain. And you were justified in that you did your "due diligence" and checked the weather forecast. But you did not have knowledge because the weather forecast was wrong. We can control whether or not we are justified in our beliefs by doing our "due diligence" but we can't control whether or not we have knowledge. Sometimes you do your due diligence but end out with false beliefs. Sometimes the weather forecast is wrong.

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Justification and the Infinite Regress Problem
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The heart of epistemology is justification. What do we have to do to be justified in our beliefs? The most common approach is evidentialism. That means beliefs are justified if we have evidence. My belief that it will rain tomorrow is justified by checking the weather report. That leads to a new problem - perhaps the central problem in epistemology. My belief 'it will rain tommorow' is based on another belief 'the weather report said it would rain'. Well, what is my evidence for that other belief? Like a child who keeps asking "why" this leads to an infinite regress. There are two major ways to solve this infinite regress. The first is foundationalism, the other is the coherence theory.

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Modest Foundationalism
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Modest foundationalism solves the infinite regress by arguing that some beliefs are justified even if they aren't based on other beliefs. Beliefs that are not based on other beliefs are called basic beliefs. That leads to a new problem. How are basic beliefs justified? Feldman argues that basic beliefs are justified if they are spontaneously formed and a suitable response to the environment. A good example of this is vision. If you see a tree and form the belief 'there is a tree' then you are justified. Visual beliefs are justified on the basis of having a visual experience of a tree.

That takes us right back to the regress problem. When you see a tree and form the belief 'there is a tree' it is only because you implicitly hold some other belief, namely 'vision gives me reliable information about the world'. But why do we think that is true? We need a justification for that belief. The infinite regress is "back on" again. I do not think Feldman does an acceptable job of grappling with this objection. He holds that modest foundationalism does not lead to an infinite regress because we have direct and immediate justification of our basic beliefs, such as those based on vision. Skeptics and coherence theorists would argue that he is begging the question. I agree even though I subscribe to modest foundationalism myself.

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The Coherence Theory
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The coherence theory solves the regress problem by arguing that beliefs can "loop around" and support each other. Of course, that leads to circular reasoning. A better way of putting it is that beliefs form an interlocking web. No individual belief is justified but the strength of the web as a whole justifies one's entire worldview. This defeats the charge of circularity.

The isolation argument is the one that is truly fatal to the coherence theory. Feldman provides a simple example. Subjects in a psychology experiment were asked to say whether the line on the left or the line on the right is longer, but the scientists manipulated them into believing that the line on the right will be longer. However, they show one of the subjects a picture in which the line on the left is actually longer. Because he was misled he still believes that the line on the right is longer. That is a false belief. This belief coheres with the rest of their worldview. According to the coherence theory, he is justified in their belief. Nevertheless, it is a belief based on an error.

The isolation objection shows that the coherence theory doesn't actually force people to have beliefs that correspond to reality. All they need to do is spin a narrative in which their belief fits the rest of their worldview. Delusion and denial are allowed. Feldmen drives this point home with the case of "Magic Feldman". Feldman is a short philosophy professor who loves basketball and manages to adopt every single belief that Magic Johnson holds. His beliefs are every bit as coherent as Magic Johnson's belief so he would be as justified. But of course this absurd.

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Externalism
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Feldman's criticism of the coherence theory is sound but as I said above, I don't think he properly defends modest foundationalism against the objection that it fails to escape the regress argument. Feldman says that the belief 'there is a tree' based on the visual experience of seeing a tree is justifed in a direct and immediate way. But why should we trust that? What if we made a mistake? Feldman subscribes to internalism, which basically says "this visual experience of seeing a tree is so clear and vivid that it is likely that there really is a tree." But what if the tree is a cardboard cutout? What if it is the illusion of an evil demon? What if we are suffering from a cognitive error?

I think the only way to truly escape the infinite regress is to switch to an externalist perspective, at least for basic beliefs. For example, Alvin's Plantinga's externalism holds that we are justified in our basic beliefs if "the belief was formed by cognitive faculties that are functioning properly and in accordance to a good design plan in a cognitive environment appropriate for the way those faculties were designed and when the design plan for our faculties is aimed at the truth." The problem with externalism is that it is unsatisfying. There is no way of knowing if Plantinga (or someone else's) requirements have been met. If the world is the illusion of an evil demon then we could be tricked into thinking our senses are aimed at the truth even if they are not.

Feldman also gives a reasonable overview of these externalist theories of justification such as the causal theory of knowledge and Alvin Planting's view of warrant. He also has a good discussion of skepticism and naturalized epistemology. But the core of the book is his clear and careful explanation of knowledge, modest foundationalism and the coherence theory.

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Further Reading
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I would recommend picking up Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview for the next step. It is a denser discussion of many of these same issues. I think atheists would find the epistemology a profitable study even if they disagree elsewhere. It also grapples more fully with the skeptic's argument that claiming direct and immediate knowledge of beliefs based on experience is question-begging.

Great Deal!
The book was better than described.The shipping was a little slow, but important part is that the book was in great condition. I recommend this seller.

Great shipping, great price
This item shipped immediately and I recieved frequently updated tracking information throughout the whole transaction.Saved a few dollars more than other students.Very easy to read and understand.

Great Primer
"Epistemology" is a near-model introductory philosophical text.It is clearly written and fair to all points of view.It takes the reader slowly and carefully through the definitions, distinctions, arguments and counter-arguments that define epistemology.It gives the reader a solid grounding in epistemological doctrine.Best of all, "Epistemology" teaches by example:it shows how philosophers actually do philosophy by critiquing and restructuring the ordinary features of experience that we usually take for granted.

That said, I took off one star because most of the books and articles discussed in "Epistemology" are less than forty years old.Great philosophers like Descartes and Hume are mentioned only in passing, and giants like Berkeley, Reid, and Wittgenstein aren't mentioned at all!Whatever philosophy is, it isn't a technical science with "state of the art" technical findings.Students who ignore philosophy's canonical texts are missing the most important part of a philosophical education. ... Read more

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A Companion to Early Modern Philosophy is a comprehensive guide to the most significant philosophers and philosophical concepts of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe.

• Provides a comprehensive guide to all the important modern philosophers and modern philosophical movements.
  
• Spans a wide range of philosophical areas and problems, including metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, ethics, political philosophy and aesthetics.
  
• Written by leading scholars in the field.
  
• Represents the most up-to-date research in the history of early modern philosophy.
  
• Serves as an excellent supplement to primary readings.

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Three issues feature as the central themes throughout this book: the nature of social science in general; the nature of educational enquiry in particular; and the links between the language and concepts of research, on the one hand, and those of practice and policy on the other. In analyzing and interrelating these themes, Richard Pring shows their relationship to such central philosophical concepts as meaning, truth, and objectivity. This lucid and ambitious study will be seen as a classic of educational literature. Reviews of the first edition include: A stimulating and readable book . . . Pring gives a succinct account of the different philosophical positions and makes a balanced evaluation of their strong and weak points . . . should be compulsory reading for all trainee teachers let alone educational researchers. -Dr Paul Martinez, Learning and Skills Development Agency Reviews Editor This volume is a textbook and a manifesto, and research students will welcome the clarity with which the various concepts, tools and approaches are outlined. Most teachers will be stimulated by it. - Times Educational Supplement Professor Pring's work is far more than the title modestly claims it to be. As much a primer in philosophy of education as a specialist work on the philosophy of educational research it is lucid and concise on topics ranging from the aim[s] of education to the nature of knowledge. - Education Review ... Read more

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The philosophy of perception investigates the nature of our sensory experiences and their relation to reality. Raising questions about the conscious character of perceptual experiences, how they enable us to acquire knowledge of the world in which we live, and what exactly it is we are aware of when we hallucinate or dream, the philosophy of perception is a growing area of interest in metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind.

William Fish’s Philosophy of Perception introduces the subject thematically, setting out the major theories of perception together with their motivations and attendant problems. While providing historical background to debates in the field, this comprehensive overview focuses on recent presentations and defenses of the different theories, and looks beyond visual perception to take into account the role of other senses.

Topics covered include:

• The Phenomenal Principle
• Perception and Hallucination
• Perception and Content
• Sense-Data, Adverbialism and Idealism
• Disjunctivism and Relationalism
• Intentionalism and Combined Theories
• The Nature of Content
• Veridicality
• Perception and Empirical Science
• Non-Visual Perception

With summaries and suggested further reading at the end of each chapter, this is an ideal introduction to the philosophy of perception.

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This volume represents the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of canonical readings in theory of knowledge. Concentration on the central topics of the field, it includes many of the most important contributions made in recent decades by several outstanding authors. Topics include skepticism and the Pyrrhonian problematic, the definition of knowledge, and the structure of epistemic justification. More specific topics may be found epistemology naturalized, foundationalism vs. coherentism, and virtue epistemology. The volume is ideal as a reader for all courses in epistemology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Best succinct treatment of contemporary epistemology
This book is exactly what it claims to be: an introduction to the contemporary theory of knowledge (epistemology - what a great word!).Dancy presents an excellent - thorough and lucid - account of the problems connected with the nature of knowledge, how those problems have been approached and dealt with and the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches such as coherentism and foundationalism.This book, though it is certainly not a breezy novel, is well worth reading if you are a reasonably intelligent thinking person and want to understand how it is that we can know things and, more importantly, what it means to say that we know things or have knowledge.

Analytical, strict and compact.
This book is a very clearly written introduction to its subject. It iscommitted to an analytical tradition though, and for those not familiarwith its style it must appear a little hard. I myself have read it a coupleof times and the first reading was a little troublesome to me. But as Ipicked it up again six months later I found it a pleasure and worth myefforts. The arguments are strict, compact and many. ... Read more

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In this book, Haridimos Tsoukas, one of the most imaginative organization theorists of our time, examines the nature of knowledge in organizations, and how individuals and scholars approach the concept of knowledge. Tsoukas firstly looks at organizational knowledge and its embessedness in social contexts and forms of life.He shows that knowledge is not just a collection of free floating representations of the world to be used at will, but an activity constitute of the world.On the one hand, the organization as an institutionalized system does produce regularities that can be captured via propositional forms of knowledge.On the other, the organization as practice as a lifeworld, or as an open-ended system produce stories, values, and shared traditions which can only be captured by narrative forms of knowledge. Secondly, Tsoukas looks at the issue of how individuals deal with the notion of complexity in organizations: Our inability to reduce the behavior of complex organizations to their constituent parts.Drawing on concepts such as discourse, narrativity, and reflexivity, he adopts a hermeneutical approach to the issue. Finally, Tsoukas examines the concept of meta-knowledge, and how we know what we know.Arguing that the underlying representationalist epistemology of much of mainstream management causes many problems, he advocates adopting a more discursive approach.He describes what such an epistemology might be, and illustrates it with examples from organization studies and strategic management. An ideal introduction to the thinking of a leading organizational theorist, this book will be essential reading for academics, researchers, and students of Knowledge Management, Organization Studies, Management Studies, Business Strategy and Applied Epistemology. ... Read more

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People are minded creatures; we have thoughts, feelings and emotions. More intriguingly, we grasp our own mental states, and conduct the business of ascribing them to ourselves and others without instruction in formal psychology. How do we do this? And what are the dimensions of our grasp of the mental realm? In this book, Alvin I. Goldman explores these questions with the tools of philosophy, developmental psychology, social psychology and cognitive neuroscience. He refines an approach called simulation theory, which starts from the familiar idea that we understand others by putting ourselves in their mental shoes. Can this intuitive idea be rendered precise in a philosophically respectable manner, without allowing simulation to collapse into theorizing? Given a suitable definition, do empirical results support the notion that minds literally create (or attempt to create) surrogates of other peoples mental states in the process of mindreading? Goldman amasses a surprising array of evidence from psychology and neuroscience that supports this hypothesis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A thorough inquiry into mental simulation theory
In «Simulating Minds», his ninth and latest book, Alvin Goldman provides a comprehensive survey of the principal theories devised to explain the mind's ability to ascribe mental states to other minds as well as to itself. Minds --human and to all appearances those of other intelligent fellow creatures-- possess the capability not only of having mental states (things such as notions, emotions and sensations) but of conceiving that other individuals or organisms are equally capable of having their own mental states. This more complex, second-order activity is referred to in psychology as mentalizing or mindreading.

Mindreading seems to be essential for the development and functioning of complex social organization. The question arises as to how the brain accomplishes mindreading. Goldman discusses several variants of the three main competing views that purport to explain the neurocognitive processes thought to underlie mindreading: theorizing, rationalizing, and simulating. The theorizing approach posits that people employ naïve (folk psychology) theories to guide them in assessing what others think or mentally experience. People then impute mental states to others based on those naïve theories. The rationalizing approach states that people assume others are as rational as they themselves are and thus infer the other person's mental contents by an exercise of rational deduction. The simulation approach holds that people try to replicate (emulate) the target's mental states in their own mind based on perceived behavioral cues and their own prior experiences. Specifically, the mind reader deploys his or her emotive and cognitive apparatus to simulate the target's perceived (or perhaps, imagined) situation and thus intuitively feel what the target should (or would) be experiencing. "Thus," asserts Goldman, "mindreading is an extended form of empathy."

Goldman then provides a very clear articulation of the theoretical construct of simulation followed by discussions of simulation theory's principal rivals: rationality theory, child-scientist theory, and modularity theory. He then conducts in-depth analyses of the hybrid simulation model he favors (one that admits a role for theorizing, although secondary to the default simulation approach). He supports his position with a wide range of evidence, including well-replicated findings from the neuroscience literature. The book closes with an examination of the relationship between simulational propensities and the distinctively social traits which characterize human experience.

This book provides an excellent account of simulation theory as well as the competing perspectives. It should be of major interest to researchers in philosophy of mind, cognitive neuroscience, and social psychology. Lay readers with a strong interest in cognitive science should also find the book a worthwhile read given the clarity and accessibility of the exposition.

An excellent example of indisciplinary work in philosophy and psychology
In this book Alvin Goldman develops a highly significant thesis - an account of how we understand other minds. This thesis is significant not just because it addresses classical philosophical problems, but also because it has serious implications for scientific research.
Alvin Goldman is a highly accomplished philosopher. In this book he ventures into new waters - surveying research in psychology and neuroscience. He grasps the empirical literature and weighs the evidence with a competence that matches that of a highly accomplished scientist. In doing so he puts most other 'interdisciplinary' philosophers to shame.
This is an exemplary work of both philosophy and theoretical psychology. This work sets an example that can and should serve as a model for modern, interdisciplinary, philosophy of mind. ... Read more

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Knowledge plays a very significant role in Buddhism, as it is the gateway to enlightenment and nirvana. This volume provides a clear and exhaustive exposition of Buddhist epistemology and logic, based on the works of classical thinkers such as Vasubandhu, Dinnaga, and Dharmakiriti. It traces the historical development of the Buddhist theory of knowledge and analyzes some basic issues like the nature of reality and knowledge, the criteria of truth, and nature of perception and inference, the only two sources of knowledge accepted in Buddhist philosophy. The appendix contains the Sanskrit original and an annotated translation of Nyaya Pravesa, a basic text of Buddhist epistemology, which discusses the nature of perception and inference and their fallacies. This work sheds light on abtruse epistemological topics and will enable readers to gain a clearer appreciation of the depths of Buddhist theory of knowledge. ... Read more

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Simply Breathtaking
I am a philosophy fiend, and when I went to my library to pick up works by Husserl and Wittgenstein, I ambled down to the eastern section and took sight of this book.After opening to the foreword and then reading the introduction, I was hooked.I could not believe, one how well the thoughts flowed and two how the ideas in Buddhism and have been once again shown to powerful and greatly influential.Though some passages had to be read again, just like any philosophical work, in order to fully grasp the whole concept the reader must think.But that is the whole goal of philosophy and the dialectic process, right?This book certainly made me think and made me go back through my many many years of philosophy to grasp the remarkable notions.To just recommend this book would do it injustice; this book deserved both a recommendation and a thoughtful discussion of its ideas.Without books like this, the world would surely be an irksome place to reside. ... Read more

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What is meaning? How is linguistic communication possible? What is the nature of language? What is the relationship between language and the world? How do metaphors work? The Philosophy of Language, considered the essential text in its field, is an excellent introduction to such fundamental questions. This revised edition collects forty-six of the most important articles in the field, making it the most up-to-date and comprehensive volume on the subject. Revised to address changing trends and contemporary developments, the fifth edition features seven new articles including influential work by Mark Crimmins, Gottlob Frege, David Kaplan, Frederick Kroon, W. V. Quine, and Robert Stalnaker (two essays). Other selections include classic articles by such distinguished philosophers as J. L. Austin, John Stuart Mill, Hilary Putnam, Bertrand Russell, John R. Searle, and P. F. Strawson.
The selections represent evolving and varying approaches to the philosophy of language, with many articles building upon earlier ones or critically discussing them. Eight sections cover the central issues: Truth and Meaning; Speech Acts; Reference and Descriptions; Names and Demonstratives; Propositional Attitudes; Metaphor and Pretense; Interpretation and Translation; and The Nature of Language. A general introduction and introductions to each section give students background to the issues and explain the connections between them. A list of suggested further reading follows each section. ... Read more

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Anthologies = Good
I, being both a philosophy student and a person with an unreliable attention span, would generally recommend Oxford's anthologies in modern philosophy. It is much more manageable than reading a whole work written by a single author, and it is a real timesaver if you simply want a broad overview of what is going on. I am fixated on semantics, so the Reference and Names sections really did it for me. Do not forget to check out "Philosophy of Mind," and "Philosophy of Time," brought to you by Oxford University Press.

I am somewhat doubtful of the earlier review, which seemed to suggest that the educated layperson can simply pick up the book and dive in. I thought once that I was stragically positioning myself in taking a Philosophy of Language course, concurrently with a Logic course, before the rest of my program. However, if you are entirely unfamiliar with the schools of thought and are unaccustomed to thinking philosophically - which nowadays is DIFFERENT from pondering good and evil, life, God, and so forth -, you might not fully benefit. Still, at the same time, this book is a good way to shock yourself into the proper habits of thinking. Just do not let it fool you into thinking you will like linguistics, which is an empirical science, and which is rather different in its aims and means of analysis.

Just the Classics
Anyone serious about meaning in language should read these articles.They provide a baseline on which all other work builds. Whether you are interdisciplinary or only care about linguistics, philosophy, artificial intelligence or cognition, this book is one must-read paper after another.

I used it for both my graduate semantics and undergraduate philosophy of language classes at Carnegie Mellon.You can read these papers on your own -- they're actually very accessible for papers on philosophy and do not require any prior logical background (though an intro to logic would surely help). Taken together, this book is the perfect basis for a quarter, semester or whole year of philosophy of language.

The book's organized into sections on Truth and Meaning (Quine's classic paper on empiricism, Church on intensionality, Davidson and Strawson on truth and Tarski on semantics), Speech Acts (Austin on Performatives, Searle on Speech Acts, Grice on cooperation), Reference and Descriptions (Frege on sense and reference, Russell on denoting and descriptions with Strawson's reply on referring), Names and Demonstratives (Kripke on Naming and necessity and Putnam on meaning and reference), Propositional attitudes (Quine and Kaplan on quantifiers, Davidson and Kripke on propositional content, and Barwise and Perry on situation semantics), Metaphor (Davidson's classic paper, though I believe the second edition contained Searle's excllent paper on metaphor), Interpretation (Quine on meaning and Searle on indeterminancy), and the Nature of Language with what's left (Wittgenstein and Kripke on privacy, and Chomsky on semantic innateness). ... Read more

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Epistemology is a compulsory topic for AS Philosophy and an important foundation component of all other philosophy courses. This book provides a clear overview of the topic and provides activities to get the readers thinking through these ideas. ... Read more

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Key Concepts in Philosophy is a series of concise, accessible and engaging introductions to the core ideas and topics encountered in the study of philosophy. Specially written to meet the needs of students and those with little prior knowledge of the subject, these books open up a whole range of important, yet often difficult ideas. The series builds to give a solid grounding in philosophy and each book is also ideal as a companion to further study. Epistemology - inquiry into the nature, possibility and scope of human knowledge - has been at the heart of the philosophy from ancient Greek times to the present. Christopher Norris provides a lucid survey and analysis of the issues that have shaped that enterprise and continue to dominate present-day discussion. He also brings out with exceptional clarity the ways in which certain 'technical' issues in epistemology can have a decisive bearing on matters of practical concern. The text highlights continuities and contrasts between early and contemporary approaches, and between the sorts of thinking that have typified the mainstream analytic and the modern 'continental' lines of descent.Norris introduces the main topics of debate, among them arguments for and against adopting a realist position with regard to various fields of knowledge, from mathematics to the physical sciences and history. This is an invaluable aid to study, one that goes beyond simple definitions and summaries to open up a new and stimulating range of ideas. ... Read more

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This is part of a three-volume collection of most of David Lewis' papers in philosophy, except for those that previously appeared in his Philosophical Papers (Oxford University Press, 1983 and 1986). They are now offered in a readily accessible form. This second volume is devoted to Lewis' work in metaphysics and epistemology. The purpose of this collection, and the volumes that precede and follow it, is to disseminate more widely the work of an eminent and influential contemporary philosopher. The volume will serve as a useful work of reference for teachers and students of philosophy. ... Read more

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One of the 20th century's best philosophers
David Lewis was both a brilliant and (by contemporary analytic philosophy's standards) very accessible philosopher.This is a collection of some of his strongest and most accessible work,and amounts to a sustained defense of the thesis that we can give a complete account of reality in terms of the local properties of 'point sized' things.This might seem a rather thin view of 'what there is'.But even if you disagree, the ingenuity of Lewis' arguments is impressive.And contemplating Lewis' work provides an opportunity for intellectual growth by forcing one to determine where his arguments go wrong (if in fact they do).Providing the opportunity for such growth tends to be the aim of most analytic philosophy, rather than providing 'cool' or 'sexy' (i.e. wooly-headed) world-views.
In terms of presentation of the material, "Putnam's Paradox" comes as the 2nd article, ("New Work", comes first) and I thought it really should come first as it sets the stage for what follows.The paradox, as Lewis sees it, threatens to render our ability to talk sensibly about the world incoherent.Lewis' account of semantics and reality in the following articles is highly developed way to escape this consequence.
Lewis' recent death was a big loss for those who cherish analytic philosophy; he will be missed ... Read more

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The more than 40 readings in this anthology cover the most important developments of the past six decades, charting the rise and decline of logical positivism and the gradual emergence of a new consensus concerning the major issues and theoretical options in the field. The editors have included articles on all of the major special sciences and emphasize the relation between the more theoretical and applied questions.

Part One deals with basic theoretical issues: confirmation, semantics, and the interpretation of theories; causation and explanation; and reductionism and the unity of science. In Part Two, these relatively abstract themes are illustrated and examined further in light of issues in the various special sciences such as physics, biology, psychology, and social science. ... Read more

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A great compendium, but requires previous knowledge
As another reviewer stated, this is NOT a book for the beginner in philosophy of science. An undergraduate philosophy student who has taken other upper-level philosophy courses may have a slightly easier time with it, but some concepts are proper of scientific epistemology and require either previous expertise or thorough discussion on the instructor's part.

The content itself, of course, is excellent and quite comprehensive. Just consider your level of philosophical education and know what you're getting.

Very good compilation
The book includes essays and articles from most well-known philosophers of science, in practically every branch and school (from Kuhn to Cartwright). It is an excellent text for gaining a broader insight into the subject, but not quite for beginners. An excellent addition to a science and/or philosophy library for its broad scope. ... Read more

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In Epistemology, Laurence Bonjour introduces the serious philosophy student to the history and concepts of epistemology, while simultaneously challenging them to take an active part in its ongoing debates. The text reflects BonJour's conviction that the place to start any discussion of the theories of knowledge is with the classical problems, beginning with and centered around Descartes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Fine Introduction on Epistemic Issues
I relish a capable and brainy reading adventure. I know it seems that much of this world is crazy for fluff. We have an entertainment industry that often provides trifling pieces of unimportant lightweight productions. There are some inane movie stars marketing insipid shows while intermixing irrational worldviews. Yes, that's just entertainment. And human beings ought to have mindless musings and delightful entertainment.
Nonetheless, what we need more are potent and thorough informed philosophical literature. In BonJour's Epistemology, here we have "a lucid defense of internalist, Cartesian foundationalism" (Ernest Sosa).

Among Chapter Subjects are:
- Descartes,
- A Priori
- the Problem of Induction
- Other Minds
- Quine
- Foundationalism V Coherentism

Very few works of Epistemology are intellectually accessible to the philosophically unseasoned. This book is an exception to that rule. This is a thinking man's simple introduction to epistemic issues, problems, and possible solutions. This is a fine read for students with or without an avowed epistemic stance. BonJour does not vigorously enforce his epistemic perspective on the uninformed, but he discusses and as he writes "suggests" thoughtful and satisfactory answers. My own epistemic province is sharply opposed to the author's, nevertheless I luxuriate in informed and earnest and pensive deliberations on truth and knowledge. I'd rather abstain from a sit-com than an outstanding epistemic treatise such as this one BonJour has rendered.

A Good start on Modern Epistemic Issues
Expensive, epistemic expansive, exacting in many aspects, a must for any young student of epistemc studies. You will not agree with all the solutions or even the formulation of the problems, buy you should enjoy reading the book as it will assist you in expanding your understanding of your knowledge pre-committments.
Buy this if you are an alert student or one seeking to make epistemology a part of your intellecutal life.

Worthless
On reading this book, I am constantly left asking my question, is the author simply touchingly naive, or is he indulging in deliberate intellectual dishonesty?

Why do I ask that?Because argument after argument is deeply, deeply flawed.Let me give an example, in his attempts to justify the concept of a priori truth (i.e. a truth that holds by virtue of itself, that does not require reference to external data to back it up) he returns to the Cartesian chestnut of 2+3=5.He attempts to argue that this is not an instance of logical deduction from definitions, by introducing some of the axiomatics involved in the definition of integers, and so ends up with making 2+3=5 equivalent to ((1+1)+(1+1+1))=(1+1+1+1+1).Fine so far.Here's the naughty bit: he then points out that we have to be able to remove the brackets to get the result (which is true) but says that we can only do this because it is an a priori obvious truth.No: it is an application of the axioms, part of the definition of what an integer is.

Here's another example.In attempting to argue for a strong Cartesian epistemology (so knowledge can only be viewed as such if it is absolutely true) he argues against a view based on probability as follows.Say event A has probability 0.9 and event B has probability 0.5.Then their conjunction has probability 0.45, which is less than their individual probabilities.But if the two events both lend credence to a belief, their conjunction should add greater credence, so probability is all wrong.No: the author just fails to understand basic facts about testing.It is precisely the fact that probabilities multiply, and so many events taken together have a joint probability much less than does any one which makes testing work: the lower the probability of what I have seen, the less likely it is to have happened at random, and so the greater support it lends to my hypothesis.If Bonjour's understanding were correct, scientists would never repeat experiments, as multiple results supporting a thesis would seemingly make the thesis' support lessen.

A third example.He describes a thought experiment in order to indicate why he believes induction is logically valid [!].Say I get a fresh cup of clean water and put a sugar cube into it.It dissolves.Say I repeat the experiment with a new cup of water.Same result.So, he argues (I am not making this up) I can conclude that sugar added to water will always dissolve.But then what happens if I, immediately after having announced that this is TRUE (as opposed to merely very likely) happen to plop a sugar cube into a saturated solution?You got it, it won't dissolve.Bonjour's test is not well posed for his hypothesis.

I could go on, but I think that will do.These are childish mistakes, hence my contention.Either the author just doesn't really understand the force of the attack on Cartesian epistemology launched by Hume and carried on into this day, or else he does but he is so committed to Cartesianism that he is prepared to be not entirely scrupulous in its defence.

Suggested alternate reading: The Pursuit of Truth by W. Quine.

It Usually Begins With Descartes
Laurence BonJour is one of the leading epistemologists in America.He has written two other books, IN DEFENSE OF PURE REASON and THE STRUCTURE OF EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE.

This book takes as his departure the Cartesian program.Much of the book is a discussion of various epistemological problems analyzed in light of responses to Descartes.(For example, Plato and Aristotle are barely mentioned, and Aquinas isn't mentioned at all.)Many of the current issues in epistemology are discussed, such as foundationalism versus coherentism, and sense-data and adverbial theories of perception.There is a lengthy critique of Quine's "naturalized epistemology."

This book is part of a new series called ELEMENTS OF PHILOSOPY, which is edited by Robert Audi.Prof. Audi has written a work entitled EPISTEMOLOGY for a different series.That work is also recommended and covers similar ground as Prof. Bonjour's work, but is a little longer.

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You can get this book delivered to your house for under thirty dollars if you order it directly from the publisher. ... Read more

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The grand and sweeping claims of many relativists might seem to amount to the argument that everything is relative—except the thesis of relativism. In this book, Steven Hales defends relativism, but in a more circumscribed form that applies specifically to philosophical propositions. His claim is that philosophical propositions are relatively true—true in some perspectives and false in others. Hales defends this argument first by examining rational intuition as the method by which philosophers come to have the beliefs they do. Analytic rationalism, he claims, has a foundational reliance on rational intuition as a method of acquiring basic beliefs. He then argues that there are other methods that people use to gain beliefs about philosophical topics that are strikingly analogous to rational intuition and examines two of these: Christian revelation and the ritual use of hallucinogens. Hales argues that rational intuition is not epistemically superior to either of these alternative methods. There are only three possible outcomes: we have no philosophical knowledge (skepticism); there are no philosophical propositions (naturalism); or there are knowable philosophical propositions, but our knowledge of them is relative to doxastic perspective. Hales defends relativism against the charge that it is self-refuting and answers a variety of objections to this account of relativism. Finally, he examines the most sweeping objection to relativism: that philosophical propositions are not merely relatively true, because there are no philosophical propositions—all propositions are ultimately empirical, as the naturalists contend. Hales's somewhat disturbing conclusion—that intuition-driven philosophy does produce knowledge, but not absolute knowledge—is sure to inspire debate among philosophers. ... Read more

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Controversial, Bold, Original and Pure Genius
Steven Hales takes an original approach to defending relativism and subsequently blows your mind.He is able to take a relatively (da dun tshh) complicated issue and explain it to people such as yourself.You need to buy this book if you are at all interested in the following: philosophy, science, art, life, government, food, animals, sex, tv, etc. ... Read more

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In Social Epistemology Fuller seeks to reconcile normative philosophy of science and empirical sociology of knowledge. He reinterprets key problems in the philosophy of science, such as realism, the nature of objectivity, the demarcation of science from other disciplines, and the nature of our knowledge of other times and places. ... Read more

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Kierkegaard is considered one of the most important thinkers of the nineteenth century, but until now very little scholarly work had been done on his epistemology. As M. G. Piety explains, this is a serious problem, as Kierkegaard's views on our ways of knowing are, and must be, intimately related to his view on religious faith and its role in human experience. Thus, in Ways of Knowing, Piety offers the first book-length exploration of Kierkegaard's views on knowledge, an epistemology that she argues is both foundationalist and nonfoundationalist, substantive and procedural, and includes both internalist and externalist theories of belief justification. In developing, then, a general outline of Kierkegaard's views, Piety provides the foundational material for future contextualizing and comparative scholarship. ... Read more

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In explaining aspects of the natural world, including the aspects of mind, scientists have frequently used the concept of function. But what are functions? Here, 15 leading scholars of philosophy of psychology and philosophy of biology present new essays on functions. ... Read more

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A random mix, not for the beginner...
Although this book has many papers that weigh in on current debates, some papers are simply rewrites of older material.There is very little "road-mapping"-- the editors seem to assume some familiarity with the field already.Plus many of the authors seem to talk past each other.

Overall, though, there are some really excellent ideas and great insights.Pick up an intro anthology first, then dive in to this one. ... Read more