Part IV: Epistemology

Chapter 13

Study questions for Do we have any Knowledge?

  1. What is a sceptical hypothesis, and what role does it play in sceptical arguments? Try to formulate a sceptical hypothesis of your own and use it as part of a radical sceptical argument.
  2. What is the closure principle, and what role does it play in sceptical arguments? Give an example of your own of an inference that is an instance of this principle.
  3. What is the sensitivity principle? Why do proponents of this principle hold that we need to reject the closure principle?
  4. What is the safety principle, and what role does it play as part of a Moorean anti-sceptical argument? In light of this principle, critically assess the Moorean claim that we are able to know the denials of sceptical hypotheses.
  5. What is the contextualist response to scepticism? Do you find it persuasive? If so, try to think of some reasons why others might not be persuaded. If not, then try to state clearly why you think the view is problematic.

Multiple Choice Questions

Weblinks for Do we have any knowledge?

Baldwin, Tom (2004). ‘G. E. Moore’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moore/. [An excellent introduction to Moore’s philosophy, this page also contains some useful links to further internet resources devoted to Moore.]

Black, Tim (2006). ‘Contextualism in Epistemology’. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/c/contextu.htm. [An excellent overview of the issues relating to contextualism, by one of the main figures in the contemporary debate.]

Brueckner, Tony (2004). ‘Brains in a Vat’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/brain-vat/. [A useful account of the ‘brains-in-a-vat’ sceptical hypothesis and its implications for epistemology.]

IMDb (Internet Movie Database), http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/. [More information about the movie The Matrix.]

Klein, Peter (2005). ‘Skepticism’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism/. [A superb overview of the literature on scepticism, written by one of the world’s foremost epistemologists.]

Pritchard, Duncan (2002). ‘Skepticism, Contemporary’. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/s/skepcont.htm. [An accessible introduction to the literature on scepticism.]

Introductory further reading for Do we have any knowledge?

Greco, John (2007). ‘External World Skepticism’. Philosophy Compass. Blackwell. [A sophisticated, yet still accessible, survey of the main issues as regards scepticism of the variety that concerns us in this chapter. Very up to date.]

Luper, Steven (2010). ‘Cartesian Skepticism’. In The Routledge Companion to Epistemology, eds S. Bernecker and D. H. Pritchard. Routledge. [An authoritative and completely up-to-date survey of the kind of scepticism that is of interest to us in this chapter.]

Pritchard, Duncan (2013). What Is This Thing Called Knowledge? 3rd Edition. Routledge. [See part 3 for a fuller, but still accessible, discussion of the problem of radical scepticism.]

Steup, Matthias, Turri, John and Sosa, Ernest (eds) (2013). Contemporary Debates in Epistemology. 2nd Edition. Blackwell. [This volume contains a number of sections that would be relevant to the topics covered in this chapter. See especially the exchange between Fred Dretske and John Hawthorne on the closure principle (§2); the exchange between Earl Conee and Stewart Cohen on contextualism (§3); and the exchange between Jonathan Vogel and Richard Fumerton on scepticism (§5).]

Advanced further reading for Do we have any knowledge?

Pritchard, Duncan (2009). Knowledge. Palgrave Macmillan. [This is an advanced textbook in epistemology. Chapter 6 offers a detailed discussion of the problem of radical scepticism and some of the main responses to this problem in the contemporary literature.]

Stroud, Barry (1984). The Significance of Philosophical Scepticism.Oxford University Press. [Examines the sceptical thesis and argues that it’s the only acceptable answer to the traditional version of the question of whether it’s possible to have any knowledge about the external world.]

Williams, Michael (1996). Unnatural Doubts.Princeton University Press. [Argues against knowledge of the external world, contrasting epistemological realism with a thoroughgoing contextualism.]