Description
This module is designed to deal with a variety of topics in epistemology – the philosophical study of knowledge. The curriculum will vary from year to year. Topics include: theories of knowledge; theories of justification or warrant; scepticism; contextualism; sources of knowledge: perception, memory, introspection, testimony.
Provisional Syllabus & Core Readings
Week 1. Knowledge by Testimony
- Hume (1748) Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X
- Fricker (1995) ‘Telling and Trusting: Reductionism and Anti-Reductionism of Testimony’, Mind, 104: 393-411
Week 2. A Priori Knowledge
- Giaquinto (1996) ‘Non-Analytic Conceptual Knowledge’, Mind, 105: 249-68.
Week 3. What is a Justified Belief? I
- Greco (2013) ‘Justification is Not Internal’ in Steup et al (eds.) Contemporary Debates in Epistemology
Week 4. What is a Justified Belief? II
- Feldman (2013) ‘Justification is Internal’ in Steup et al (eds.) Contemporary Debates in Epistemology
Week 5. Knowledge as Justified True Belief
- Ayer (1956) The Problem of Knowledge, Chapter 1, pp.7-35.
- Gettier (1963) ‘Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?’, Analysis, 23: 121-3.
Week 6. Knowledge as JTB+truth-tracking
- Nozick (1983) Philosophical Explanations, Chapter 3, Section 1 ‘Knowledge’ pp.172-96
Week 7. Can Knowledge Even Be Analyzed?
- Zagzebski (1994) ‘The Inescapability of Gettier Problems’, The Philosophical Quarterly, 44: 65-73
- Williamson (1995) ‘Is Knowing a State of Mind?’, Mind, 104:533-65, Sections 1-3 & 5
Week 8. Virtue Epistemology
- Sosa (2017) Epistemology, Chapter 8 ‘Mind-World Relations’
Week 9. Scepticism
- Pryor (2000) ‘The Skeptic and the Dogmatist’, ±·´Çû²õ, 34: 517-49
Week 10. Contextualism
- Lewis (1996) ‘Elusive Knowledge’, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 74(4): 549-67
Philosophy Area A
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
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