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69Action, causation, and unityNoûs 13 (2): 261-270. 1979."Contingent Identity in Human Action and Philosophical Method", Castañeda's study of _A Theory of Human Action_, covers a great deal of territory and contains many diverse criticisms. In the space allotted here I cannot do justice to the range of Castañeda's detailed and careful discussion. Instead of replying to his critique point by point, let me use it as an occasion to explore a few selected topics which he broaches.
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53Stephen P. Stich: The Fragmentation of ReasonPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 51 (1): 189-193. 1991.
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24Episteme: A new self-definitionEpisteme 9 (1): 1-2. 2012.With this issue Episteme makes its debut with Cambridge University Press, after eight successful years of publication at Edinburgh University Press. The journal’s new subtitle reflects a significant expansion in scope and mission. Our previous subtitle, ‘A Journal of Social Epistemology’, reflected our earlier focus on the nascent field of social epistemology. The new subtitle, ‘A Journal of Individual and Social Epistemology’, reflects a new self-definition as a full-spectrum journal of epistem…Read more
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10Social EpistemologyCritica 31 (93): 3-19. 1999.Epistemology has historically focused on individual inquirers conducting their private intellectual affairs independently of one another. As a descriptive matter, however, what people believe and know is largely a function of their community and culture, narrowly or broadly construed. Most of what we believe is influenced, directly or indirectly, by the utterances and writings of others. So social epistemology deserves at least equal standing alongside the individual sector of epistemology.
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216Williamson on Knowledge and EvidenceIn Duncan Pritchard & Patrick Greenough (eds.), Williamson on Knowledge, Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 73-91. 2009.
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59Mindreading by simulation: The roles of imagination and mirroringIn Simon Baron-Cohen, Michael Lombardo & Helen Tager-Flusberg (eds.), Understanding Other Minds: Perspectives From Developmental Social Neuroscience, Oxford University Press. pp. 448-466. 2013.
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9The Unity of the Epistemic VirtuesIn Pathways to knowledge: private and public, Oxford University Press. pp. 51-72. 2002.
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215Immediate justification and process reliabilismIn Quentin Smith (ed.), Epistemology: new essays, Oxford University Press. pp. 63-82. 2008.
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7A guide to social epistemologyIn Alvin I. Goldman & Dennis Whitcomb (eds.), Social Epistemology: Essential Readings, Oxford University Press. pp. 11-37. 2011.
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299The Internalist Conception of JustificationMidwest Studies in Philosophy 5 (1): 27-51. 1980.One possible aim of epistemology is to advise cognizers on the proper choice of beliefs or other doxastic attitudes. This aim has often been part of scientific methodology: to tell scientists when they should accept a given hypothesis, or give it a certain degree of credence. This regulative function is naturally linked to the notion of epistemic justification. It may well be suggested that a cognizer is justified in believing something just in case the rules of proper epistemic procedure prescr…Read more
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54Functionalism, the theory-theory and phenomenologyBehavioral and Brain Sciences 16 (1): 101-108. 1993.The ordinary understanding and ascription of mental states is a multiply complex subject. Widely discussed approaches to the subject, such as functionalism and the theory-theory (TT), have many variations and interpretations. No surprise, then, that there are misunderstandings and disagreements, which place many items on the agenda. Unfortunately, the multiplicity of issues raised by the commentators and the limitations of space make it impossible to give a full reply to everyone. My response is…Read more
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419Reliabilism and the Value of KnowledgeIn Adrian Haddock, Alan Millar & Duncan Pritchard (eds.), Epistemic value, Oxford University Press. pp. 19-41. 2009.
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91Speech, Truth, and the Free Market for IdeasLegal Theory 2 (1): 1-32. 1996.This article examines a thesis of interest to social epistemology and some articulations of First Amendment legal theory: that a free market in speech is an optimal institution for promoting true belief. Under our interpretation, the market-for-speech thesis claims that more total truth possession will be achieved if speech is regulatedonlyby free market mechanisms; that is, both government regulation and private sector nonmarket regulation are held to have information-fostering properties that …Read more
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127Epistemic Folkways and Scientific EpistemologyPhilosophical Issues 3 271-285. 1993.What is the mission of epistemology, and what is its proper methodology? Such meta-epistemological questions have been prominent in recent years, especially with the emergence of various brands of "naturalistic" epistemology. In this paper, I shall reformulate and expand upon my own meta-epistemological conception (most fully articulated in Goldman, 1986), retaining many of its former ingredients while reconfiguring others. The discussion is by no means confined, though, to the meta-epistemologi…Read more
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55Précis of Knowledge in a Social WorldPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 64 (1): 185-190. 1999.Epistemology has historically focused on individual inquirers conducting their intellectual affairs in total isolation from one another. Methodological solipsism aside, however, it is incontestable that people’s opinions are massively influenced by their community and culture, by the written and spoken words of others, both past and present. This has led recent epistemologists to pay greater attention to the social dimensions of knowledge, especially to the role of testimony as a source of justi…Read more
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376Mirror neurons and the simulation theory of mind-readingTrends in Cognitive Sciences 2 (12): 493-501. 1998.A new class of visuomotor neuron has been recently discovered in the monkey’s premotor cortex: mirror neurons. These neurons respond both when a particular action is performed by the recorded monkey and when the same action, performed by another individual, is observed. Mirror neurons appear to form a cortical system matching observation and execution of goal-related motor actions. Experimental evidence suggests that a similar matching system also exists in humans. What might be the functional r…Read more
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83Social Epistemology: Theory and ApplicationsRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 64 1-18. 2009.Epistemology has had a strongly individualist orientation, at least since Descartes. Knowledge, for Descartes, starts with the fact of one’s own thinking and with oneself as subject of that thinking. Whatever else can be known, it must be known by inference from one’s own mental contents. Achieving such knowledge is an individual, rather than a collective, enterprise. Descartes’s successors largely followed this lead, so the history of epistemology, down to our own time, has been a predominantly…Read more
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472ExpertiseTopoi 37 (1): 3-10. 2018.This paper offers a sizeable menu of approaches to what it means to be an expert. Is it a matter of reputation within a community, or a matter of what one knows independently of reputation? An initial proposal characterizes expertise in dispositional terms—an ability to help other people get answers to difficult questions or execute difficult tasks. What cognitive states, however, ground these abilities? Do the grounds consist in “veritistic” states or in terms of evidence or justifiedness? To w…Read more
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66On the measurement of powerJournal of Philosophy 71 (8): 231-252. 1974.The aim of this paper is to develop a general strategy for measuring the relative power of individuals over any given issue. Three slightly different schemes will be proposed, all of which employ the same basic strategy. Although even the best of these schemes is not finally satisfactory, two important goals will be achieved: (1) the fundamental structure of the approach will be delineated, and (2) the nature of the refinement needed to obtain a fully adequate scheme will be clearly identified.
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52Simulation and interpersonal utilityEthics 105 (4): 709-726. 1995.The aim of this article is to show how research in cognitive science is relevant to a certain theoretical issue in moral theory, namely, the legitimacy of interpersonal utility (IU) comparisons.
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41Can science know when you're conscious? Epistemological foundations of consciousness researchJournal of Consciousness Studies 7 (5): 3-22. 2000.Consciousness researchers standardly rely on their subjects’ verbal reports to ascertain which conscious states they are in. What justifies this reliance on verbal reports? Does it comport with the third-person approach characteristic of science, or does it ultimately appeal to first-person knowledge of consciousness? If first-person knowledge is required, does this pass scientific muster? Several attempts to rationalize the reliance on verbal reports are considered, beginning with attempts to d…Read more
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5What is justified belief?In Steven Luper (ed.), Essential Knowledge: Readings in Epistemology, Longman. pp. 178. 2003.
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717Knowledge in a social worldOxford University Press. 1991.Knowledge in a Social World offers a philosophy for the information age. Alvin Goldman explores new frontiers by creating a thoroughgoing social epistemology, moving beyond the traditional focus on solitary knowers. Against the tides of postmodernism and social constructionism Goldman defends the integrity of truth and shows how to promote it by well-designed forms of social interaction. From science to education, from law to democracy, he shows why and how public institutions should seek knowle…Read more
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183A priori warrant and naturalistic epistemology: The seventh Philosophical Perspectives lecturePhilosophical Perspectives 13 1-28. 1999.Epistemology has recently witnessed a number of efforts to rehabilitate rationalism, to defend the existence and importance of a priori knowledge or warrant construed as the product of rational insight or apprehension (Bealer 1987; Bigelow 1992; BonJour 1992, 1998; Burge 1998; Butchvarov 1970; Katz 1998; Plantinga 1993). This effort has sometimes been coupled with an attack on naturalistic epistemology, especially in BonJour 1994 and Katz 1998. Such coupling is not surprising, because naturalist…Read more
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70The real thing?The Philosophers' Magazine 43 88-93. 2008.A central group of questions are questions of an evaluative nature having to do with beliefs. What I want to say is, what we should focus on is; what are good ways of organising social practices and social institutions that are good from the point of view of what people believe, and help them get true beliefs or be informed, and then avoid making mistakes.
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1A causal theory of knowingIn Steven Luper (ed.), Essential Knowledge: Readings in Epistemology, Longman. pp. 115. 2003.
Areas of Specialization
Epistemology |
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Mind |
Social and Political Philosophy |
Philosophy of Cognitive Science |