ABSTRACT

What is knowledge? What are the sources of knowledge? What is the value of knowledge? What can we know? Arguing About Knowledge offers a fresh and engaging perspective on the theory of knowledge. This comprehensive and imaginative selection of readings examines the subject in an unorthodox and entertaining manner whilst covering the fundamentals of the theory of knowledge. It includes classic and contemporary pieces from the most influential philosophers from Descartes, Russell, Quine and G.E. Moore to Richard Feldman, Edward Craig, Gilbert Harman and Roderick Chisholm. In addition, students will find fascinating alternative pieces from literary and popular work such as Lewis Caroll, Jorges Luis Borges and Paul Boghossian.  Each article selected is clear, interesting and free from unnecessary jargon. The editors provide lucid introductions to each section in which they give an overview of the debate and outline the arguments of the papers. Arguing About Knowledge is an inventive and stimulating reader for students new to the theory of knowledge.

chapter |1 pages

General Introduction

part One|25 pages

What is knowledge?

part |23 pages

Introduction to Part One

chapter Chapter 1|3 pages

The Right to Be Sure

chapter Chapter 2|2 pages

Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?

chapter Chapter 3|6 pages

Knowledge, Truth and Evidence

chapter Chapter 4|6 pages

Knowledge and What We Would Believe

part Two|46 pages

What is the value of knowledge?

part |44 pages

Introduction to Part Two

chapter Chapter 5|2 pages

The Meno

chapter Chapter 6|18 pages

The Value of Knowledge is External to It

chapter Chapter 7|12 pages

The Search for the Source of Epistemic Good

chapter Chapter 8|8 pages

The Value Problem

part Three|44 pages

What evidence do we have?

part |42 pages

Introduction to Part Three

chapter Chapter 9|7 pages

"Appear," "Take," and "Evident"

chapter Chapter 10|6 pages

Ultimate Evidence

chapter Chapter 11|6 pages

Posits and Reality

chapter Chapter 12|17 pages

Having Evidence

part Four|29 pages

How should we distribute our confidence?

part |27 pages

Introduction to Part Four

chapter Chapter 13|15 pages

Confidence and Probability

chapter Chapter 15|2 pages

Getting the Goat

part Five|59 pages

What is it to be justified in believing something?

part |57 pages

Introduction to Part Five

chapter Chapter 16|17 pages

Reliabilism: What is Justified Belief?

chapter Chapter 17|18 pages

Evidentialism

chapter Chapter 18|13 pages

An Internalist Externalism

chapter Chapter 19|3 pages

What the Tortoise Said to Achilles

part Six|83 pages

What is the structure of justification and knowledge?

part |81 pages

Introduction to Part Six

chapter Chapter 20|16 pages

Can Empirical Knowledge have a Foundation?

chapter Chapter 23|19 pages

The Raft and the Pyramid

Coherence versus foundations in the theory of knowledge

part Seven|79 pages

What is the nature of the epistemic ‘ought’?

part |77 pages

Introduction to Part Seven

chapter Chapter 24|5 pages

The Ethics of Belief

chapter Chapter 25|9 pages

The Will to Believe

chapter Chapter 26|9 pages

Epistemic Terms

chapter Chapter 28|10 pages

Epistemic Justification and Normativity

chapter Chapter 29|11 pages

A Contractarian Conception of Knowledge

part Eight|55 pages

What are the sources of knowledge?

part |53 pages

Introduction to Part Eight

chapter Chapter 30|5 pages

On Introduction

chapter Chapter 32|10 pages

The a Priori

chapter Chapter 33|16 pages

Perceptual Knowledge

part Nine|67 pages

What can we know?

part |65 pages

Introduction to Part Nine

chapter Chapter 34|4 pages

The Circular Ruins

chapter Chapter 35|10 pages

The Problem of the Criterion

chapter Chapter 36|4 pages

Meditation One

chapter Chapter 37|7 pages

Descartes’ Evil Genius

chapter Chapter 38|4 pages

Certainty

chapter Chapter 39|13 pages

An Argument for Skepticism

chapter Chapter 40|17 pages

Elusive Knowledge

part Ten|82 pages

Is knowledge in the eye of the beholder?

part |80 pages

Introduction to Part Ten

chapter Chapter 41|27 pages

Right You are (If You Think You are)

chapter Chapter 42|23 pages

Understanding a Primitive Society

chapter Chapter 43|8 pages

What the Sokal Hoax Outght to Teach Us

The pernicious consequences and internal contradictions of 'postmodernist' relativism