ABSTRACT
In chapters 4 and 5, he discussed two generic social practices: testimony (i.e., the transmission of observed [or allegedly observed] information from one person to others), and argumentation (i.e., the defense of some conclusion by appeal to a set of premises that provide support for it). In discussing these practices, Goldman has many important things to say about the way they brighten the prospect for knowledge and very little about the way they threaten it. I would like to slightly redress the balance and put a touch of gray in Goldman's rosy picture by considering testimony and argumentation in the light of some evolutionary considerations.
