Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of ...

1 EPISTEMOLOGY A state-of-the-art Introduction to epistemology by one of the leadingfigures in the It would be difficult to imagine a better way tointroduce students to epistemology. William , Syracuse University No less than one would expect from a first-rate epistemologist who isalso a master expositor: lucid, comprehensive, well-structured, andexcellently informed both by the tradition and by recent developments. Asuperb Introduction . Ernest Sosa, Brown University This is a massively impressive book, introducing the reader to virtuallyall the main areas of epistemology. Robert Audi s text is lucid and highlyreadable, while not shirking the considerable complexities of his This book will be an invaluable resource for intermediate andadvanced undergraduates, and for starting graduates, and will be ofconsiderable interest to professional colleagues also. Elizabeth Fricker, University of Oxford Easily among the best and most comprehensive introductions toepistemology.

2 It covers a wide variety of important topics in an accessible,clear and stimulating style. Audi considers a variety of positionssympathetically and fairly, while defending his favored solutions. This isprecisely what one wants in a philosophy text. Noah Lemos, DePauw University Very good coverage of the major problems of epistemology. Jonathan Kvanvig, Texas A & M UniversityEpistemology, or the Theory of knowledge, is concerned with how weknow what we do, what justifies us in believing what we do, and whatstandards of evidence we should use in seeking truths about the world andhuman experience. This comprehensive book introduces the concepts andtheories central for understanding knowledge. It aims to reach studentswho have already done an introductory philosophy course and generalreaders in epistemology at any Audi s approach is new and exciting, drawing the reader into therich and fascinating subfields and theories of the subject in a natural way,guided by key concrete examples.

3 Major topics include perception andreflection as grounds of knowledge, and the nature, structure, and varietiesof knowledge. Also considered are the character and scope of knowledge inthe crucial realms of ethics, science and Audi is the Charles Distinguished Professor of Philosophyat the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He is internationally recognized asone of the leading authors in the field of epistemology. His books includeThe Structure of Justification (Cambridge University Press, 1993), Action,Intention, and Reason (Cornell University Press, 1993) and MoralKnowledge and Ethical Character (Oxford University Press, 1997). iiRoutledge Contemporary Introductions to PhilosophySeries Editor:Paul University of ChicagoThis innovative, well-structured series is for students who have alreadydone an introductory course in philosophy and others interested in thetopic. Each book introduces a core general subject in contemporaryphilosophy and offers students an accessible but substantial transition fromintroductory to higher-level college work in that subject.

4 The series isaccessible to nonspecialists and each book clearly motivates and expoundsthe problems and positions introduced. An orienting chapter brieflyintroduces its topic and reminds readers of any crucial material they needto have retained from a typical introductory course. Considerable attentionis given to explaining the central philosophical problems of a subject andthe main competing solutions and arguments for those solutions. Theprimary aim is to educate students in the main problems, positions andarguments of Contemporary philosophy rather than to convince them of asingle position. The initial eight central books in the series are written byexperienced authors and teachers and treat topics essential to a well-rounded philosophy AudiEthicsHarry GenslerMetaphysicsMichael Philosophy of ArtNoel CarrollThe Philosophy of LanguageWilliam Philosophy of MindJohn HeilThe Philosophy of ReligionKeith Philosophy of ScienceAlexander RosenbergEPISTEMOLOGYA Contemporary Introduction to thetheory of knowledgeRobert AudiLondon and New YorkTo MalouFirst published in 1998by Routledge11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4 EEThis edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.

5 To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge scollection of thousands of eBooks please go to Simultaneously published in the USA and Canadaby Routledge29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Reprinted 1998, 1999 1998 Robert AudiAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted orreproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafterinvented, including photocopying and recording, or in anyinformation storage or retrieval system, without permission inwriting from the Library Cataloguing in Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British LibraryLibrary of Congress Cataloguing in Publication DataAudi, RobertEpistemology: a Contemporary Introduction to the Theory ofknowledge/Robert Audi.(Routledge Contemporary introductions to philosophy; 2)Includes bibliographical references and Knowledge, Theory of. I. Title. II.

6 1998121 dc21 97 11598 ISBN 0-203-98210-X Master e-book ISBNISBN 0-415-13042-5 (hbk)0-415-13043-3 (pbk) Contents Preface xi Acknowledgments xiv Introduction 1 Part One: Sources of justification, knowledge, and truth 11 Chapter 1: Perception 12 The elements and basic kinds of perception 14 Seeing and believing 18 Some commonsense views of perception 27 The Theory of appearing 29 Sense-datum theories of perception 30 Adverbial theories of perception 36 Adverbial and sense-datum theories of sensoryexperience 38 Phenomenalism 40 Perception and the senses 44 Chapter 2: Memory 53 Memory and the past 54 The causal basis of memory beliefs 56 Theories of memory 57 Remembering, recalling, and imaging 64 The epistemological centrality of memory 66 Chapter 3: Consciousness 72 Two basic kinds of mental properties 73 Introspection and inward vision 75 Some theories of introspective consciousness 76 Consciousness and privileged access 80 Introspective consciousness as a source of justificationand knowledge 85 Chapter 4: Reason 91 Self-evident truths of reason 92 The classical view of the truths of reason 94 The empiricist view of the truths of reason 102 The conventionalist view of the truths of reason 107 Some difficulties and strengths of the classical view 111 Chapter 5: Testimony 128 Formal and informal testimony 129 The psychology of testimony 130 The epistemology of testimony 134 The indispensability of testimonial grounds 139 Part Two: The structure and growth of justification and knowledge 148 Chapter 6.

7 Inference and the extension of knowledge 149 The process, content, and structure of inference 150 Inference and the growth of knowledge 155 Source conditions and transmission conditions 158 The inferential transmission of justification andknowledge 160 Memorial preservation of inferential justification andinferential knowledge 169 Chapter 7: The architecture of knowledge 174 Inferential chains and the structure of belief 176 The epistemic regress problem 179 The epistemic regress argument 184 Foundationalism and coherentism 185viii Holistic coherentism 186 The nature of coherence 189 Coherence, reason, and experience 192 Coherence and second-order justification 198 Moderate foundationalism 201 PartThree: The nature and scope of justification and knowledge 208 Chapter 8: The Analysis of Knowledge 209 Knowledge and justified true belief 210 Knowledge as the right kind of justified true belief 212 Naturalistic accounts of the concept of knowledge 217 Problems for reliability theories 220 Knowledge and justification 225 Internalism and externalism 227 Justification and truth 234 Concluding proposals 239 Chapter 9: Scientific, moral, and religious knowledge 245 Scientific knowledge 246 Moral knowledge 255 Religious knowledge 265 Chapter10.

8 Skepticism 276 The possibility of pervasive error 277 Skepticism generalized 281 The egocentric predicament 286 Fallibility 287 Uncertainty 290 Deducibility, evidential transmission, and induction 295 The authority of knowledge and the cogency of itsgrounds 298ix Refutation and rebuttal 301 Prospects for a positive defense of common sense 303 Skepticism and common sense 308 Conclusion 313 Short annotated bibliography of books inepistemology 322 Index 329xPrefaceThis book is a wide-ranging Introduction to epistemology, conceived as thetheory of knowledge and justification. It presupposes no specialbackground in philosophy and is meant to be fully understandable to anygenerally educated, careful reader, but for students it is most appropriatelystudied after completing at least one more general course in main focus is the body of concepts, theories, and problems central inunderstanding knowledge and justification.

9 Historically, justification sometimes under such names as reason to believe , evidence , and warrant has been as important in epistemology as knowledge itself. Thisis surely so at present. In many parts of the book, justification andknowledge are discussed separately; but they are also interconnected atmany points. The book is not historically organized, but it does discussselected major positions in the history of philosophy, particularly some ofthose that have greatly influenced human thought. Moreover, even wheremajor philosophers are not mentioned, I try to take their views into of my primary aims is to facilitate the reading of those philosophers,especially their epistemological writings. It would take a very long book todiscuss representative Contemporary epis-temologists or, in any detail, evena few historically important epistemologies, but a shorter one can providemany of the tools needed to understand them.

10 Providing such tools is one ofmy main use of this book in the study of philosophy is not limited to coursesor investigations in epistemology. Epistemological problems and theoriesare often interconnected with problems and theories in the philosophy ofmind; nor are these two fields of philosophy easily separated (a point thatmay hold, if to a lesser extent, for any two central philosophical fields).There is, then, much discussion of the topics in the philosophy of mind thatare crucial for epistemology, for instance the phenomenology ofperception, the nature of belief, the role of imagery in memory andintrospection, the variety of mental properties figuring in self-knowledge,the nature of inference, and the structure of a person s system of of the book might serve as collateral reading not only in pursuingthe philosophy of mind but also in the study of a number of philosophersoften discussed in philosophy courses, especially Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas,Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, and Mill.