Social Epistemology
Adrian Haddock, Alan Millar, and Duncan Pritchard
Abstract
The idea of approaching epistemological concerns from a social perspective is relatively new. For much of its history the epistemological enterprise — and arguably philosophy more generally — has been cast along egocentric lines. Where a non-egocentric approach has been taken, as in the recent work of naturalist epistemologists, the focus has been on individuals interacting with their environment rather than on the significance of social interaction for an understanding of the nature and value of knowledge. The fifteen chapters presented in this book aim to show the fertility and variety of so ... More
The idea of approaching epistemological concerns from a social perspective is relatively new. For much of its history the epistemological enterprise — and arguably philosophy more generally — has been cast along egocentric lines. Where a non-egocentric approach has been taken, as in the recent work of naturalist epistemologists, the focus has been on individuals interacting with their environment rather than on the significance of social interaction for an understanding of the nature and value of knowledge. The fifteen chapters presented in this book aim to show the fertility and variety of social epistemology and to set the agenda for future research. They examine not only the well-established topic of testimony, but also newer topics such as disagreement, comprehension, the norm of trust, epistemic value, and the epistemology of silence. Several contributors discuss metaphilosophical issues to do with the nature of social epistemology and what it can contribute to epistemology more generally.
Keywords:
epistemological concerns,
naturalist epistemologists,
social interaction,
knowledge,
testimony,
disagreement,
comprehension
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2010 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199577477 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2011 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577477.001.0001 |
