Theory of Knowledge

Course Information
Theory of Knowledge

PHL 320
3 Credits
Offered Every Year
Major Requirement

Overview

A Theory of Knowledge (an 'epistemology') is an attempt to answer various questions about both the nature, scope, and limits of knowledge and of justification, e.g., What is knowledge? Can we analyze the concept of knowledge? Are there different kinds of knowledge? How are they related? In what ways does knowledge differ from mere belief or from mere true belief (if at all)? What is justification? How are we to analyze or understand it? In what ways is justification an evaluative or normative concept? Is the having of justification for your beliefs a necessary condition for the having of knowledge or can you get by without it? What is the relationship between the having of justification and the having of evidence?
Perhaps most notoriously, epistemology also involves us in questions about the very possibility of knowledge, as well, e.g., is it possible for creatures such as ourselves to know anything or must we ultimately be skeptics when it comes either to knowledge or even to justification?

Epistemology is an old discipline, having its Western roots in the work of the pre-Socratic nature philosophers of ancient Greece. Plato and Aristotle wrote voluminously in the area of epistemology as well. Nevertheless, this course is not a historical introduction to the theory of knowledge. Rather, it focuses primarily on work done in epistemology in the late 20th Century in Britain, Australia, and the United States.

The course is primarily structured around four central topics in contemporary epistemology: (1) the nature and analysis of knowledge, (2) the nature and analysis of justification, (3) externalistic theories of knowledge and the prospects for reliabilism and naturalism, respectively, and (4) various forms of skepticism and the possible replies to skepticism that are available to us.

The Averbialist

Spring 2003 Issue (Right click here and choose "Save Target As..." to download in MS Word format: 256 KB; simply click link to view as .doc)

Brief Syllabus The Classical Problems of Epistemology
Rene Descartes: The Epistemological Problem | The Concept of Knowledge and the Analysis Problem | Induction and the Problem of Scientific Knowledge | Areas of Knowledge: External World, Self, Other Minds | Sources of Knowledge: Experience, Testimony, Memory
Responses to the Cartesian Problem
Foundationalism and Coherentism | Internalism and Externalism
Naturalized Responses | Skeptical Responses | Pragmatic and Wittgensteinian Responses

Links
The Blackboard Web Site
James Pryor's Web Site on How to Write a Philosophy Paper
James Pryor's Web Site on How to Read a Philosophy Paper
James Pryor on Philosophical Terms and Methods
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Dictionary of Philosophical Terms and Names
Yahoo List of Links to Websites on Philosophers

Overview	A Theory of Knowledge (an 'epistemology') is an attempt to answer various questions about both the nature, scope, and limits of knowledge and of justification, e.g., What is knowledge? Can we analyze the concept of knowledge? Are there different kinds of knowledge? How are they related? In what ways does knowledge differ from mere belief or from mere true belief (if at all)? What is justification? How are we to analyze or understand it? In what ways is justification an evaluative or normative concept? Is the having of justification for your beliefs a necessary condition for the having of knowledge or can you get by without it? What is the relationship between the having of justification and the having of evidence? Perhaps most notoriously, epistemology also involves us in questions about the very possibility of knowledge, as well, e.g., is it possible for creatures such as ourselves to know anything or must we ultimately be skeptics when it comes either to knowledge or even to justification? Epistemology is an old discipline, having its Western roots in the work of the pre-Socratic nature philosophers of ancient Greece. Plato and Aristotle wrote voluminously in the area of epistemology as well. Nevertheless, this course is not a historical introduction to the theory of knowledge. Rather, it focuses primarily on work done in epistemology in the late 20th Century in Britain, Australia, and the United States. The course is primarily structured around four central topics in contemporary epistemology: (1) the nature and analysis of knowledge, (2) the nature and analysis of justification, (3) externalistic theories of knowledge and the prospects for reliabilism and naturalism, respectively, and (4) various forms of skepticism and the possible replies to skepticism that are available to us.
The Averbialist	Spring 2003 Issue (Right click here and choose "Save Target As..." to download in MS Word format: 256 KB; simply click link to view as .doc)
Brief Syllabus	The Classical Problems of Epistemology Rene Descartes: The Epistemological Problem \| The Concept of Knowledge and the Analysis Problem \| Induction and the Problem of Scientific Knowledge \| Areas of Knowledge: External World, Self, Other Minds \| Sources of Knowledge: Experience, Testimony, Memory Responses to the Cartesian Problem Foundationalism and Coherentism \| Internalism and Externalism Naturalized Responses \| Skeptical Responses \| Pragmatic and Wittgensteinian Responses
Links	The Blackboard Web Site James Pryor's Web Site on How to Write a Philosophy Paper James Pryor's Web Site on How to Read a Philosophy Paper James Pryor on Philosophical Terms and Methods Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy The Dictionary of Philosophical Terms and Names Yahoo List of Links to Websites on Philosophers