Teaching Theory of Knowledge

Theory of Knowledge: General Course

CONTRIBUTOR: Alvin Goldman.

Texts

Moser, P. Empirical Knowledge . Hereafter cited as 'M.

Pappas, G. and Swain, M. (eds.). Essays on Knowledge and Justification. Hereafter cited as 'P&S'

Newton-Smith, W. H. The Rationalitv of Science.

Topics and Readings

Part 1: Skepticism

Pappas: "Some Forms of Epistemological Skepticism" (P&S)

Lehrer: "Why Not Skepticism?" (P&S)

Klein: selections from Certainty: A Refutation of Skepticism

Unger: "A Defense of Skepticism" (P&S)

Part II: Knowledge

Gettier: "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?" (M)

Lehrer and Paxson, Jr.: "Knowledge: Undefeated Justified True Belief" (P&S)

Goldman: "A Causal Theory of Knowing" (P&S)

Harman: selection from Thought (P&S,orM)

Dretske: "Conclusive Reasons" (P&S)

Goldman: "Discrimination and Perceptual Knowledge" (P&S)

* Nozick: selections from Philosophical Explanations (chapter 3. Parts I and II).

* optional

Part III: Justification

A. Foundationalism

Chisholm: "The Myth of the Given" (M)

Alston: "Two Types of Foundationalism (M)

BonJour: "Can Empirical Knowledge Have a Foundation?" (M)

Sosa: "The Raft and the Pyramid" (M)

B. Coherentism

Quine: "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" (section 6)

Lehrer: "Systematic Justification" (P&S)

BonJour: "The Coherence Theory of Empirical Knowledge" (M)

C. Reliabilism

Goldman: "What Is Justified Belief?" (M)

BonJour: "Externalist Theories of Empirical Knowledge" (M)

Pollock: "Reliability and Justified Belief" (M)

D. General

Alston: "Concepts of Epistemic Justification" (M)

Part IV: Probability and Induction

Skyrms: selections from Choice and Chance

Goodman: "The New Riddle of Induction", in Fact, Fiction, and Forecast

Part V: Naturalism and Relativism

Quine: "Epistemology Naturalized" (M)

Quine: "Natural Kinds," in Ontological Relativity

Rorty: selections from Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature

Putnam: "Why Reason Can't Be Naturalized"

Part VI: Scientific Theory, Rationality, and Method

Newton-Smith: The Rationality of Science (chapters to be assigned, including chapters on Popper, Lakatos, Kuhn, and Feyerabend)