• Richard Foley
  • Philosophy
  • 2012-07-22

When is True Belief Knowledge?

Author: Richard Foley

Publisher: Princeton University Press

ISBN:

Category: Philosophy

Page: 153

View: 519

A woman glances at a broken clock and comes to believe it is a quarter past seven. Yet, despite the broken clock, it really does happen to be a quarter past seven. Her belief is true, but it isn't knowledge. This is a classic illustration of a central problem in epistemology: determining what knowledge requires in addition to true belief. In this provocative book, Richard Foley finds a new solution to the problem in the observation that whenever someone has a true belief but not knowledge, there is some significant aspect of the situation about which she lacks true beliefs--something important that she doesn't quite "get." This may seem a modest point but, as Foley shows, it has the potential to reorient the theory of knowledge. Whether a true belief counts as knowledge depends on the importance of the information one does or doesn't have. This means that questions of knowledge cannot be separated from questions about human concerns and values. It also means that, contrary to what is often thought, there is no privileged way of coming to know. Knowledge is a mutt. Proper pedigree is not required. What matters is that one doesn't lack important nearby information. Challenging some of the central assumptions of contemporary epistemology, this is an original and important account of knowledge.
  • Frederick F. Schmitt
  • Philosophy
  • 2006-11-22

Knowledge and Belief

Author: Frederick F. Schmitt

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN:

Category: Philosophy

Page: 288

View: 313

Knowledge, from Plato onwards, has been considered in relation to justified belief. Current debate has centred around the nature of the justification and whether justified belief can be considered an internal or extenal matter. Epistemological internalists argue that the subject must be able to reflect upon a belief to complete the process of justification. The externalists, on the other hand, claim that it is only necessary to consider whether the belief is reliably formed, and argue that the ability to know by reflection is not required for a justified belief. In the historical section of this book the three most important epistemologists, Plato, Descartes and Hume, as well as the ancient epistemologies of the stoics, Academics and Pyrhonians, are considered. In reconsidering the history of epistemology the author is led to argue against hte view that internalism is historically dominant. His critique of internalism is then developed into a sustained argument against many of its forms, and he goes onto defend an externalist, reliabilist epistemology.
  • University of Hull. Department of Political Studies
  • Ideology
  • 1973

Knowledge and Belief in Politics

The Problem of Ideology

Author: University of Hull. Department of Political Studies

Publisher: London : G. Allen & Unwin

ISBN:

Category: Ideology

Page: 325

View: 941

  • Fred Dretske
  • Philosophy
  • 2000-02-28

Perception, Knowledge and Belief

Selected Essays

Author: Fred Dretske

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN:

Category: Philosophy

Page: 284

View: 320

Part I. Knowledge: 1. Conclusive reasons 2. Epistemic operators 3. The pragmatic dimension of knowledge 4. The epistemology of belief 5. Two conceptions of knowledge: rational vs. reliable belief Part II. Perception and Experience: 6. Simple seeing 7. Conscious experience 8. Differences that make no difference 9. The mind's awareness of itself 10. What good is consciousness Part III. Thought and Intentionality: 11. Putting information to work 12. If you can't make one, you don't know how it works 13. The nature of thought 14. Norms and the constitution of the mental 15. Minds, machines, and money: what really explains behavior.
  • Frederick F. Schmitt
  • Philosophy
  • 2006-11-22

Knowledge and Belief

Author: Frederick F. Schmitt

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN:

Category: Philosophy

Page: 288

View: 264

Knowledge, from Plato onwards, has been considered in relation to justified belief. Current debate has centred around the nature of the justification and whether justified belief can be considered an internal or extenal matter. Epistemological internalists argue that the subject must be able to reflect upon a belief to complete the process of justification. The externalists, on the other hand, claim that it is only necessary to consider whether the belief is reliably formed, and argue that the ability to know by reflection is not required for a justified belief. In the historical section of this book the three most important epistemologists, Plato, Descartes and Hume, as well as the ancient epistemologies of the stoics, Academics and Pyrhonians, are considered. In reconsidering the history of epistemology the author is led to argue against hte view that internalism is historically dominant. His critique of internalism is then developed into a sustained argument against many of its forms, and he goes onto defend an externalist, reliabilist epistemology.
  • William M. Shea
  • History
  • 2003-02-13

Knowledge and Belief in America

Enlightenment Traditions and Modern Religious Thought

Author: William M. Shea

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN:

Category: History

Page: 376

View: 595

This volume of essays explores the interaction between Enlightenment ideals and American religion.
  • Guy Axtell
  • Philosophy
  • 2000

Knowledge, Belief, and Character

Readings in Virtue Epistemology

Author: Guy Axtell

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

ISBN:

Category: Philosophy

Page: 224

View: 458

This is a unique collection of new and recently-published articles which debate the merits of virtue-theoretic approaches to the core epistemological issues of knowledge and justified belief. The readings all contribute to our understanding of the relative importance, for a theory of justified belief, of the reliability of our cognitive faculties and of the individuals responsibility in gathering and weighing evidence. Highlights of the readings include direct exchanges between leading exponents of this approach and their critics.
  • Toyin Falola
  • History
  • 2008

Health Knowledge and Belief Systems in Africa

Author: Toyin Falola

Publisher:

ISBN:

Category: History

Page: 533

View: 901

Health care in sub-Saharan Africa is and will continue to be an issue of utmost importance in the twenty-first century. As the HIV/AIDS pandemic ravages the continent, the stakes heighten not only to provide effective and efficient health care to African communities, but also to disseminate knowledge about health-seeking behavior and to instill belief among people in the possibility of leading a healthy existence. Health Knowledge and Belief Systems in Africa raises questions and offers analysis on many issues related to how health and illness are understood by communities in Africa, as well as how health knowledge and beliefs are disseminated and utilized to provide health services to African populations. The chapters in this book derive from many different disciplinary approaches and cover regions across sub-Saharan Africa, thus offering a holistic glimpse at the knowledge and belief systems functioning in Africa and the ways that these systems contribute to health care access and delivery in the worlds most endangered continent.
  • B. Hallen
  • Philosophy
  • 1997

Knowledge, Belief, and Witchcraft

Analytic Experiments in African Philosophy

Author: B. Hallen

Publisher: Stanford University Press

ISBN:

Category: Philosophy

Page: 163

View: 929

This is the only analysis of indigenous discourse about an African belief system undertaken within the framework of Anglo-American analytical philosophy.
  • Luis Villoro
  • Philosophy
  • 1998

Belief, Personal, and Propositional Knowledge

Author: Luis Villoro

Publisher: Rodopi

ISBN:

Category: Philosophy

Page: 347

View: 332

Villoro offers a systematic analysis of the fundamental epistemic concepts: belief, personal knowledge, propositional knowledge, and certainty. He analyses their relationships, on the one hand, with reasons that justify the truth of our beliefs, and on the other with motivations (desires, wants, interests) that can distort them. Some of the questions the author addresses are: when can we say that our knowledge is grounded on objective reasons? How are those reasons affected by our desires and interests? Knowledge and beliefs are analyzed as they are held by concrete men and women, determined by their personal motivations, and conditioned by social circumstances. Thus conceived, they cannot be understood without their relationships to will and to human practices. The book concludes with the study of the relationships of beliefs and knowledge with precepts that regulate practical life in society. Rational conditions of belief thus appear as conditions for the realization of a free and rational life.
  • Helm, Paul
  • Philosophy
  • 2013-12-19

Varieties of Belief

Author: Helm, Paul

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN:

Category: Philosophy

Page: 192

View: 821

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
  • Sibajiban Bhattacharyya
  • Belief and doubt
  • 1987

Doubt, Belief, and Knowledge

Author: Sibajiban Bhattacharyya

Publisher:

ISBN:

Category: Belief and doubt

Page: 309

View: 913

Articles, most previously published in periodicals, 1955-1975.
  • Nils J. Nilsson
  • Computers
  • 2014-08-15

Understanding Beliefs

Author: Nils J. Nilsson

Publisher: MIT Press

ISBN:

Category: Computers

Page: 151

View: 639

What beliefs are, what they do for us, how we come to hold them, and how to evaluate them. Our beliefs constitute a large part of our knowledge of the world. We have beliefs about objects, about culture, about the past, and about the future. We have beliefs about other people, and we believe that they have beliefs as well. We use beliefs to predict, to explain, to create, to console, to entertain. Some of our beliefs we call theories, and we are extraordinarily creative at constructing them. Theories of quantum mechanics, evolution, and relativity are examples. But so are theories about astrology, alien abduction, guardian angels, and reincarnation. All are products (with varying degrees of credibility) of fertile minds trying to find explanations for observed phenomena. In this book, Nils Nilsson examines beliefs: what they do for us, how we come to hold them, and how to evaluate them. We should evaluate our beliefs carefully, Nilsson points out, because they influence so many of our actions and decisions. Some of our beliefs are more strongly held than others, but all should be considered tentative and changeable. Nilsson shows that beliefs can be quantified by probability, and he describes networks of beliefs in which the probabilities of some beliefs affect the probabilities of others. He argues that we can evaluate our beliefs by adapting some of the practices of the scientific method and by consulting expert opinion. And he warns us about “belief traps”—holding onto beliefs that wouldn't survive critical evaluation. The best way to escape belief traps, he writes, is to expose our beliefs to the reasoned criticism of others.
  • Nicholas Wolterstorff
  • Philosophy
  • 1996-01-26

John Locke and the Ethics of Belief

Author: Nicholas Wolterstorff

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN:

Category: Philosophy

Page: 248

View: 649

A new view of Locke's ethics of belief and his contribution to modern philosophy.
  • Carol and Michael Lowenstein Endowed Term Chair Cristina Bicchieri
  • Philosophy
  • 1992-08-28

Knowledge, Belief, and Strategic Interaction

Author: Carol and Michael Lowenstein Endowed Term Chair Cristina Bicchieri

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN:

Category: Philosophy

Page: 413

View: 163

A group of pre-eminent figures offer a conspectus of the interaction of game theory, logic and episemology in the formal models of knowledge, belief, deliberation and learning.
  • Stephen Shute
  • Law
  • 2002

Criminal Law Theory

Doctrines of the General Part

Author: Stephen Shute

Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand

ISBN:

Category: Law

Page: 332

View: 338

Concentrating upon those doctrines that make up the general part of the criminal law this collection of essays by leading American and British legal experts sheds theoretical light on key issues of contemporary relevance.
  • A. Phillips Griffiths
  • Belief and doubt
  • 1967

Knowledge and Belief

Author: A. Phillips Griffiths

Publisher: London : Oxford U.P

ISBN:

Category: Belief and doubt

Page: 169

View: 843

  • Noah Lemos
  • Philosophy
  • 2007-02-15

An Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge

Author: Noah Lemos

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN:

Category: Philosophy

Page:

View: 133

Epistemology or the theory of knowledge is one of the cornerstones of analytic philosophy, and this book provides a clear and accessible introduction to the subject. It discusses some of the main theories of justification, including foundationalism, coherentism, reliabilism, and virtue epistemology. Other topics include the Gettier problem, internalism and externalism, skepticism, the problem of epistemic circularity, the problem of the criterion, a priori knowledge, and naturalized epistemology. Intended primarily for students taking a first class in epistemology, this lucid and well-written text would also provide an excellent introduction for anyone interested in knowing more about this important area of philosophy.