Knowledge on Trust
Paul Faulkner
Abstract
The book aims to present an epistemological theory of testimony, or a theory that explains how it is that we acquire knowledge and warranted belief from testimony. The key questions are: what makes it reasonable to accept a piece of testimony? And what warrants belief formed on this testimonial basis? Existing theories of testimony largely fail because they do not recognize how issues of practical rationality motivate the first question, and this is what makes testimony distinctive as a source of knowledge. At the heart of the theory this book presents is then the idea that trust can make it r ... More
The book aims to present an epistemological theory of testimony, or a theory that explains how it is that we acquire knowledge and warranted belief from testimony. The key questions are: what makes it reasonable to accept a piece of testimony? And what warrants belief formed on this testimonial basis? Existing theories of testimony largely fail because they do not recognize how issues of practical rationality motivate the first question, and this is what makes testimony distinctive as a source of knowledge. At the heart of the theory this book presents is then the idea that trust can make it reasonable to depend on another's testimony, but what warrants testimonial belief is not trust but the body of evidence the testimony originates from. Testimonial knowledge and testimonially warranted belief are got on trust. And our having a way of life wherein testimony is such a source of knowledge and warrant is our having a society wherein a certain kind of trust is possible.
Keywords:
testimony,
source,
knowledge,
belief,
warrant,
epistemology,
trust
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2011 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199589784 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2011 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199589784.001.0001 |
