•  34
    Epistemology today: A perspective in retrospect (review)
    Philosophical Studies 40 (3). 1981.
    According to the main tradition, knowledge is either direct or indirect: direct when it intuits some perfectly obvious fact of introspection or a priori necessity; indirect when based on deductive proof stemming ultimately from intuited premises. Simple and compelling though it is, this Cartesian conception of knowledge must be surmounted to avoid skepticism. Seeing that the straight and narrow of deductive proof leads nowhere, C. I. Lewis wisely opts for a highroad of probabilistic inference. B…Read more
  •  840
    Reflective knowledge in the best circles
    Journal of Philosophy 94 (8): 410-430. 1997.
    According to Moore, his argument meets three conditions for being a proof: first, the premiss is different from the conclusion; second, he knows the premiss to be the case; and, third, the conclusion follows deductively.2 Further conditions may be required, but he evidently thinks his proof would satisfy these as well. As Moore is well aware, many philosophers will feel he has not given “...any satisfactory proof of the point in question."3 Some, he believes, will want the premiss itself proved.…Read more
  •  69
    Judgment & Agency
    Oxford University Press UK. 2015.
    Ernest Sosa extends his distinctive approach to epistemology, intertwining issues concerning the role of the will in judgment and belief with issues of epistemic evaluation. Questions about skepticism and the nature of knowledge are at the forefront. The answers defended are new in their explicit and sustained focus on judgment and epistemic agency. While noting that human knowledge trades on distinctive psychological capacities, Sosa also emphasizes the role of the social in human knowledge. Ba…Read more
  •  438
    A virtue epistemology
    Oxford University Press. 2007.
    Ernest Sosa argues for two levels of knowledge, the animal and the reflective, each viewed as a distinctive human accomplishment.
  •  67
    Two conceptions of knowledge
    Journal of Philosophy 67 (3): 59-66. 1970.
    Knowledge of the nature of knowledge is deplorably scarce. Fortunately, the reason is not lack of interest. On the contrary, the bewildering variety of competing theories is part of the problem. It is to, be hoped, however, that intensive discussion of such theories will help reduce the scarcity. In what follows I want to contribute to this end by briefly discussing two of the theories.
  •  101
    On Reflective Knowledge: replies to Battaly and Reed
    Synthese 188 (2): 309-321. 2012.
    This article is a reply to Baron Reed and Heather Battaly, two critics in a book symposium on my Reflective Knowledge. The reply to Reed concerns the main content and structure of Descartes's epistemology. The reply to Battaly concerns how best to deal with epistemic circularity
  •  6
    Experience and Intentionality
    Philosophical Topics 14 (1): 67-83. 1986.
  •  58
    Boghossian’s F ear of Knowledge (review)
    Philosophical Studies 141 (3). 2008.
  •  265
  •  7
    Ontological and conceptual relativity and the self
    In Michael J. Loux & Dean W. Zimmerman (eds.), The Oxford handbook of metaphysics, Oxford University Press. 2003.
    This chapter takes up, in six sections, issues of realism and of ontological and conceptual relativity. Section 1 briefly lays out the kind of absolutist realism of interest in what follows. Section 2 considers arguments against ordinary commonsense entities such as bodies, and for the view that subjects enjoy a superior ontological position. No such argument is found persuasive. I find no good argument against ordinary bodies or other common-sense entities, nor any good argument that subjects e…Read more
  •  15
    Dreams and Skeptics
    Philosophic Exchange 35 (1). 2005.
    This paper compares the relative merits of perceptual beliefs and introspective beliefs in the context of dream arguments for skepticism. It is argued that introspective beliefs are not epistemically privileged over perceptual beliefs.
  •  1
    ``Postscript to Proper Function and Virtue Epistemology"
    In Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), Warrant in Contempoary Epistemology, Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 271-280. 1996.
  •  46
    The Philosophy of Nicholas Rescher
    with Robin Haack and Nicholas Rescher
    Philosophical Quarterly 31 (123): 172. 1981.
  •  141
  •  150
  •  1293
    The place of reasons in epistemology
    In Daniel Star (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Reasons and Normativity, Oxford University Press. 2018.
    This paper considers the place of reasons in the metaphysics of epistemic normativity and defends a middle ground between two popular extremes in the literature. Against members of the ‘reasons first’ movement, we argue that reasons are not the sole fundamental constituents of epistemic normativity. We suggest instead that the virtue-theoretic property of competence is the key building block. To support this approach, we note that reasons must be possessed to play a role in the analysis of ce…Read more
  •  16
    Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy (review)
    Review of Metaphysics 56 (3): 653-656. 2003.
    The Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy was held in Boston in August 1998. Twice in this century has there been a philosophy world congress in the United States, both times in Boston. Congresses have long been held every five years, but mostly in France, Germany, Russia, England, and other European countries. Aside from the two in this country, only one had previously been held in the Americas, in Mexico. The organization responsible for holding such congresses is, and has long been, the Fede…Read more
  •  1298
    How to defeat opposition to Moore
    Philosophical Perspectives 13 137-49. 1999.
    What modal relation must a fact bear to a belief in order for this belief to constitute knowledge of that fact? Externalists have proposed various answers, including some that combine externalism with contextualism. We shall find that various forms of externalism share a modal conception of “sensitivity” open to serious objections. Fortunately, the undeniable intuitive attractiveness of this conception can be explained through an easily confused but far preferable notion of “safety.” The denouem…Read more
  •  48
    Essays on the philosophy of Roderick M. Chisholm (edited book)
    with Roderick M. Chisholm
    Rodopi. 1979.
  •  104
    Responses to Nuccetelli, Lemos, and Bueno
    Metaphilosophy 40 (2): 203-213. 2009.
    Abstract: Susana Nuccetelli discusses critically my account of Moore's Proof of the External World. Noah Lemos takes up my views on skepticism and my distinction between animal knowledge and reflective knowledge. Otávio Bueno focuses on my treatment of dream skepticism. In this article I offer replies to my three critics.
  • Knowledge of self, others, and world
    In Kirk Ludwig (ed.), Donald Davidson, Cambridge University Press. pp. 2003--163. 2003.
  •  59
    Causation and conditionals (edited book)
    Oxford University Press. 1975.
    Mackie, J. L. Causes and conditions.--Taylor, R. The metaphysics of causation.--Scriven, M. Defects of the necessary condition analysis of causation.--Kim, J. Causes and events: Mackie on causation.--Anscombe, G. E. M. Causality and determination.--Davidson, D. Causal relations.--Wright, G. H. von. On the logic and epistemology of the causal relation.--Ducasse, C. J. On the nature and the observability of the causal relation.--Sellars, W. S. Counterfactuals.--Chisholm, R. M. Law statements and c…Read more
  •  67
    The truth of modest realism
    Philosophical Issues 3 177-195. 1993.
    True, the believing could not in those cir- cumstances be there the object of belief being there. accept a notion of correspondence or reference according to which a word or a brain state of ours can refer to some external or or independent (This no more forces
  • Philosophical Issues, Philosophy of Language (edited book)
    Wiley-Blackwell. 2007.
    Some of the most distinguished active contributors to the field join together for a collection of their most recent work. Brings together important new papers by many of the most distinguished philosophers of language Takes up some of the central issues in the field in recent years Includes some of the best cutting-edge work in philosophy of language
  •  152
    Goldman’s Reliabilism and Virtue Epistemology
    Philosophical Topics 29 (1-2): 383-400. 2001.
  •  64
    Comprehensive and packed, Alvin Plantinga's two-volume treatise defies summary. The first volume, Warrant: Current Views, is a meticulous critical survey of epistemology today. Many current approaches are presented and exhaustively discussed, and a negative verdict is passed on each in turn. This prepares the way for volume two, Warrant and Proper Function, where a positive view is advanced and developed in satisfying detail. The cumulative result is most impressive, and should command attention…Read more
  •  289
    Knowing full well: the normativity of beliefs as performances
    Philosophical Studies 142 (1): 5-15. 2009.
    Belief is considered a kind of performance, which attains one level of success if it is true (or accurate), a second level if competent (or adroit), and a third if true because competent (or apt). Knowledge on one level (the animal level) is apt belief. The epistemic normativity constitutive of such knowledge is thus a kind of performance normativity. A problem is posed for this account by the fact that suspension of belief seems to fall under the same sort of epistemic normativity as does belie…Read more