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Subjectivity in JustificationDissertation, University of Notre Dame. 1982.The standard view concerning types of theories of justification is that there are two types of theories: foundational and coherence theories. Foundationalism is generally taken to be what I call Minimal Foundationalism, which is a weaker form of foundationalism than Classical Foundationalism. I argue that this taxonomical scheme is inadequate since it fails to separate theories that are intuitively different, and it places some theories that are avowedly of one sort in the other type of theory. …Read more
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29Zagzebski on JustificationVirtues of the Mind: An Inquiry into the Nature of Virtue and the Ethical Foundations of KnowledgePhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 60 (1): 191. 2000.
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What's Paradoxical?In Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), The Knowability Paradox, Oxford University Press Uk. 2006.This chapter explores the different grounds for accepting the claim that all truths are knowable, the assumption central to the derivation of Fitch’s result. It argues that although there is no compelling argument for holding that all truths are knowable, there are various positions in which this feature of semantic anti-realism fits naturally; rejecting this puts serious tension into a broad range of philosophical outlooks, including theism and physicalism. In the end, the paradox should be fel…Read more
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The ParadoxIn Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), The Knowability Paradox, Oxford University Press Uk. 2006.This chapter examines the logical structure of the knowability paradox, presenting the details of the proofs that underlie the paradox, and clarifying which elements of these proofs give rise to paradox. It argues that there is no simple and obvious logical mistake in the derivation of the knowability result. A paradox has deep significance only if it arises from plausible premises. Those in question in Fitch’s proof are the claim of epistemic modesty, that some truths will never be known, and t…Read more
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26Sosa's virtue epistemologyCritica 42 (125): 47-62. 2010.Ernest Sosa's latest epistemology remains a version of virtue epistemology, and I argue here that it faces two central problems, pressing a point I have made elsewhere, that virtue epistemology does not present a complete answer to the problem of the value of knowledge. I will press this point regarding the nature of knowledge through variations on two standard Gettier examples here. The first is the Fake Barn case and the second is the Tom Grabit case. I will argue that Sosa's latest virtue epi…Read more
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Semantical MovesIn Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), The Knowability Paradox, Oxford University Press Uk. 2006.This chapter pursues a strategy for solving the knowability paradox in terms of the general category of the fallacies involved in substituting into intensional contexts. It clarifies and defends the indexical theory of quantification. It argues that the neo-Russellian view of quantification blocks the proofs from knowable truth to known truth, and that the objections raised in the literature to this approach are not damaging.
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Syntactic Restriction StrategiesIn Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), The Knowability Paradox, Oxford University Press Uk. 2006.This chapter examines approaches to the paradox that wish to save anti-realism from the paradox by denying that the knowability assumption is a commitment of anti-realism. Such approaches contend that the claim that all truths are knowable must be restricted in some way to express an anti-realist commitment. All examples of such an approach are rejected, and it is argued that even if there was a successful restriction strategy, the paradox would remain untouched.
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Rules for the Knowledge OperatorIn Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), The Knowability Paradox, Oxford University Press Uk. 2006.This chapter examines the idea that the logical principles governing the knowledge operator are the root cause of the paradox. There are two such principles: the first is that knowledge implies truth, and the second is that knowledge distributes over conjunction, so that knowledge of a conjunction constitutes knowledge of the conjuncts. It is argued that the paradox cannot be avoided by questioning these principles.
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Reservations about the Underlying LogicIn Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), The Knowability Paradox, Oxford University Press Uk. 2006.This chapter explores the challenge to the proof of Fitch’s results presented by intuitionism, and the prospects of this viewpoint in avoiding the paradox that results. It argues that adopting intuitionistic principles of reasoning will not help avoid the paradox. It merely changes what is paradoxical from a lost distinction between known truth and knowable truth, to a lost distinction between unknown truth and unknowable truth. Since paradox remains in both cases, the solution to the paradox mu…Read more
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7Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion Volume 8 (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2017.Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion is an annual volume offering a regular snapshot of state-of-the-art work in this longstanding area of philosophy that has seen an explosive growth of interest over the past half century.
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5Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion Volume 5 (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2014.Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion is an annual volume offering a regular snapshot of state-of-the-art work in this longstanding area of philosophy that has seen an explosive growth of interest over the past half century.
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2Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion: Volume 2 (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2009.Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion is an annual volume offering a regular snapshot of state-of-the-art work in this longstanding area of philosophy that has seen an explosive growth of interest over the past half century.
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4Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion Volume 6 (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2015.Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion is an annual volume offering a regular snapshot of state-of-the-art work in this longstanding area of philosophy that has seen an explosive growth of interest over the past half century.
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2Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion Volume 4 (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2012.Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion is an annual volume offering a regular snapshot of state-of-the-art work in this longstanding area of philosophy that has seen an explosive growth of interest over the past half century.
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IntroductionIn Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), The Knowability Paradox, Oxford University Press Uk. 2006.This introductory chapter begins with a brief overview of the knowability paradox — a paradox deriving from a proof that if all truths are knowable, then all truths are known — which was first published by Frederic Fitch in 1963. It cites the relative obscurity of the proof and paradox since its publication, and identifies the two problems created by Fitch’s proof. The chapters included in this volume are then described.
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ConclusionIn Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), The Knowability Paradox, Oxford University Press Uk. 2006.This chapter discusses the process of developing a solution to knowability paradox. It presents a detailed analysis of the paradox. It argues that the neo-Russellian theory of quantification is the only acceptable solution to the paradox, since no other approach offers any hope of addressing the fundamental paradoxicality involved in asserting a lost logical distinction between actuality and possibility.
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19Warrant and Contemporary Epistemology (edited book)Rowman & Littlefield. 1996.Motivated by Plantinga's work, fourteen prominent philosophers have written new essays investigating Plantingian warrant and its contribution to contemporary epistemology. The resulting collection, representing a broad array of views, not only gives readers a critical perspective on Plantinga's landmark work, but also provides in one volume a clear statement of the variety of approaches to the nature of warrant within contemporary epistemology and to the connections between epistemology and meta…Read more
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92Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion: Volume 1 (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2008.Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion is a new annual volume offering a regular snapshot of state-of-the-art work in this longstanding area of philosophy ...
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4Perspectivalism and Reflective AssentIn David Phiroze Christensen & Jennifer Lackey (eds.), The Epistemology of Disagreement: New Essays, Oxford University Press. pp. 223-242. 2013.
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90Warrant and Contemporary Epistemology: Essays in Honor of Plantinga's Theory of Knowledge (edited book)Savage, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield. 1996.Alvin Plantinga responds to the essays in a concluding chapter.
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13Resurrection, Heaven, and HellIn Charles Taliaferro & Philip L. Quinn (eds.), A Companion to Philosophy of Religion, Wiley-blackwell. 1997.This chapter contains sections titled: Works cited.
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63The Intellectual Virtues and the Life of the Mind: On the Place of the Virtues in Contemporary EpistemologySavage, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield. 1992.
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117Against Pragmatic EncroachmentLogos and Episteme 2 (1): 77-85. 2011.Anti-intellectualist theories of knowledge claim that in some way or other, practical stakes are involved in whether knowledge is present (or, where the view iscontextualist, whether sentences about knowledge are true in a given context). Interest in pragmatic encroachment arose with the development of contextualist theories concerning knowledge ascriptions. In these cases, there is an initial situation in which hardly anything is at stake, and knowledge is easily ascribed. The subsequent situat…Read more
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27``Precìs of T he Value of Knowledge and the Pursuit of Understanding "In Adrian Haddock, Alan Millar & Duncan Pritchard (eds.), Epistemic Value, Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 309-313. 2009.Reflection on the issues surrounding the value of knowledge and other cognitive states of interest to epistemologists can be traced to the conversation between Socrates and Meno in Plato’s dialogue named after the latter. The context of discussion concerns the hiring of a guide to get one to Larissa, and the proposal on the table is that one would want a guide who knows the way. Socrates sees a problem, however, for it is not clear why a guide with merely true opinion will not be just as good.
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2``Disagreement and Reflective Ascent"In Jennifer Lackey (ed.), New Essays on Disagreement, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2012.
St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Epistemology |
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Language |
Philosophy of Religion |
Logic and Philosophy of Logic |