ABSTRACT
A system of epistemic concepts provides the basis for thinking about, and acting with respect to, cognitive matters. An epistemic system will typically include such notions as knowledge, belief, evidence, confirmation, truth, and others – although here too the exact membership of the system is subject to dispute. Analytic epistemologists offer analyses of these concepts and I will consider examples as we proceed. But I will also argue that the contents of this system change with changes in our overall epistemic situation and our understanding of that situation. I will consider some changes that have been discussed in the literature, and will make some recommendations about what we should include in this system given our present perspective. This will amount to a fragment of a descriptive epistemic theory. However, the central concepts in this system have both descriptive and prescriptive aspects.1
Although I will begin with the descriptive side, the prescriptive side will soon make its way into our discussion. This chapter will, then, provide the most detailed account of a prescriptive theory in this book.
