-
The Chemistry of Epistemic JustifcationIn Kevin McCain, Scott Stapleford & Matthias Steup (eds.), Seemings: New Arguments, New Angles, Routledge. 2023.
-
1Control over and responsibility for beliefIn Taylor W. Cyr, Andrew Law & Neal A. Tognazzini (eds.), Freedom, Responsibility, and Value: Essays in Honor of John Martin Fischer, Routledge. 2023.
-
25Epistemic Dilemmas: New Arguments, New Angles (edited book)Routledge. 2021.It seems plausible that there can be “no win” moral situations in which no matter what one does one fails some moral obligation. Is there an epistemic analog to moral dilemmas? Are there epistemically dilemmatic situations—situations in which we are doomed to violate an epistemic requirement? If there are, when exactly do they arise and what can we learn from them? A team of top epistemologists address these and closely related questions from a variety of new, sometimes unexpected, angles. Anyon…Read more
-
47Seemings: New Arguments, New Angles (edited book)Routledge. 2023.This volume presents new research on the epistemology of seemings. It features original essays by leading epistemologists on the nature and epistemic import of seemings and intuitions. Seemings and intuitions are often appealed to in philosophical theorizing. In fact, epistemological theories such as phenomenal conservatism and dogmatism give pride of place to seemings. Such views insist that seemings are of central importance to theories of epistemic justification. However, there are many quest…Read more
-
216An Introduction to Contemporary EpistemologyPrentice-Hall. 1996.This book offers a systematic and up-to-date account of the landscape of contemporary epistemology. It presupposes only a minimum of prior philosophical knowledge, and includes an account of the logical and conceptual tools needed for philosophical analysis. Focuses on the writings and ideas of W. Alston, R. Audi, L. BonJour, R. Chisholm, A. Goldman. H. Kornboith, K. Lehrer. A. Plantinga, W. V. Quine, E. Sosa, and B Stroud, among others; links particular theories and arguments to their chief pro…Read more
-
10Contemporary Debates in Epistemology, 2nd EditionWiley-Blackwell. 2008.A collection of vigorous debates on some of the most controversial topics in recent theoretical epistemology.
-
50Easy Knowledge, Circularity, and the Puzzle of Reliability KnowledgeEpisteme 16 (4): 453-473. 2019.According to externalist reliabilism and dogmatic foundationalism, it's possible to gain knowledge through a perceptual experience without being in a position to know that the experience is reliable. As a result, both of these views face the problem of making knowledge of perceptual reliability too easy, for they permit deducing perceptual reliability from particular perceptual experience without already knowing that these experiences are trustworthy. Ernest Sosa advocates a two-stage solution t…Read more
-
45Harmless naturalism: The limits of science and the nature of philosophyPhilosophical Review 109 (3): 462-465. 2000.Should we only believe what science can prove? Robert Almeder analyzes "naturalized epistemology," which holds that the only valid claims that can be made about the world must be proven by the natural sciences and that all philosophical questions are ultimately answered by science. The author examines and refutes different forms of naturalized epistemology before settling on "harmless naturalism," a compromise which implies that certain questions about the world are answerable and have been answ…Read more
-
37Virtues of the Mind: An Inquiry into the Nature of Virtue and the Ethical Foundations of the Mind (review)Dialogue 38 (3): 619-621. 1999.In recent years, what is commonly referred to as “virtue epistemology” has gained momentum. One of the first to champion this approach with much force and sophistication was Ernest Sosa. James Montmarquet has contributed to the ascendancy of virtue epistemology with a fine monograph, and Alvin Goldman has, at least indirectly, confirmed the attraction of this approach by rephrasing his latest version of reliabilism in terms of epistemic virtues and vices. In Virtues of the Mind, Linda Zagzebski …Read more
-
267Benign InfinityIn Cherie Braden, Rodrigo Borges & Branden Fitelson (eds.), Themes From Klein, Springer Verlag. pp. 235-57. 2019.According to infinitism, all justification comes from an infinite series of reasons. Peter Klein defends infinitism as the correct solution to the regress problem by rejecting two alternative solutions: foundationalism and coherentism. I focus on Klein's argument against foundationalism, which relies on the premise that there is no justification without meta-justification. This premise is incompatible with dogmatic foundationalism as defended by Michael Huemer and Time Pryor. It does not, howeve…Read more
-
80Doxastic Voluntarism and Up-To-Me-NessInternational Journal of Philosophical Studies 26 (4): 611-618. 2018.
-
91Eplstemic Justification. Essays In the Theory of Knowledge, by William Alston (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 52 (1): 228-232. 1992.
-
82Proper and Improper Use of Cognitive Faculties: A Counterexample to Plantiga’s Proper Functioning Theory (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 55 (2): 409. 1995.
-
49Knowledge and the State of Nature: An Essay in Conceptual Synthesis (review)Philosophical Review 101 (4): 856. 1992.
-
4177Belief, Voluntariness and IntentionalityDialectica 65 (4): 537-559. 2011.In this paper, I examine Alston's arguments for doxastic involuntarism. Alston fails to distinguish (i) between volitional and executional lack of control, and (ii) between compatibilist and libertarian control. As a result, he fails to notice that, if one endorses a compatibilist notion of voluntary control, the outcome is a straightforward and compelling case for doxastic voluntarism. Advocates of involuntarism have recently argued that the compatibilist case for doxastic voluntarism can be bl…Read more
-
Twentieth centuryIn Dermot Moran (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Twentieth-Century Philosophy, Routledge. pp. 469. 2008.
-
216Knowledge, truth, and duty: essays on epistemic justification, responsibility, and virtue (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2001.This volume gathers eleven new and three previously unpublished essays that take on questions of epistemic justification, responsibility, and virtue. It contains the best recent work in this area by major figures such as Ernest Sosa, Robert Audi, Alvin Goldman, and Susan Haak.
-
219Empiricism, metaphysics, and voluntarismSynthese 178 (1): 19-26. 2011.This paper makes three points: First, empiricism as a stance is problematic unless criteria for evaluating the stance are provided. Second, Van Fraassen conceives of the empiricist stance as receiving its content, at least in part, from the rejection of metaphysics. But the rejection of metaphysics seems to presuppose for its justification the very empiricist doctrine Van Fraassen intends to replace with the empiricist stance. Third, while I agree with Van Fraassen’s endorsement of voluntarism, …Read more
-
2Are Mental States Luminous?In Duncan Pritchard & Patrick Greenough (eds.), Williamson on Knowledge, Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 217--36. 2009.
-
12Real Knowing New Versions of the Coherence Theory (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 64 (3): 740-743. 2002.In this book, which is as much about postmodern continental philosophy as about analytic epistemology, Alcoff argues that epistemology is in need of a reorientation away from foundationalism and metaphysical realism toward coherentism and what Alcoff calls “immanent” realism. Alcoff begins, in the book’s introduction, by making an initial case for coherentism and against dismissing epistemology altogether. She considers it a valuable postmodernist insight that philosophical theorizing reflects s…Read more
-
28Harmless Naturalism: The Limits of Science and the Nature of Philosophy (review)Philosophical Review 109 (3): 462. 2000.In this book, Almeder distinguishes between three kinds of naturalism: Quine’s recommendation to replace traditional epistemology with science; the kind of reliabilism advocated in Alvin Goldman’s Epistemology and Cognition, according to which traditional epistemology should at least partially be transformed into science; and the kind Almeder himself proposes, which he calls “harmless” naturalism. The former two are examples of scientism: according to Almeder, the mistaken view that the only ans…Read more
-
2Evidentialist anti-skepticismIn Trent Dougherty (ed.), Evidentialism and its Discontents, Oxford University Press. 2011.
Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Knowledge |
Skepticism |
Metaphysics |