PHIL 340 - THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE

Spring 2010

TR 2:30-3:45

Welles 132

INSTRUCTOR

Theodore Everett

office: Wadsworth 9B

telephone: (office) x5198; (home) 243-3433

e-mail: everett@geneseo.edu

office hours: 10:00-12:00W and by appointment

TEXTS

Bernecker and Dretske, Knowledge: readings in contemporary epistemology, Oxford University Press, 2000. Additional readings will be handed out.

TOPICS

There are two most basic topics in epistemology. First is the nature of knowledge. It seems to be a species of belief, and to require at a minimum that the belief in question be true - but not all true belief counts as knowledge. So what else is needed? That the belief be rationally justified? That the belief be reliably produced? Something (or more than one thing) different? We will explore a number of possible answers in the first half of the course. The second main question in epistemology is whether we actually have any knowledge, however it turns out to be defined. The position that we have no knowledge is called skepticism. Almost nobody likes this position, but nobody has been very successful in refuting it, either. We will consider several attempts to refute or reestablish skepticism in the last half of the course.

REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING

There will be two exams and a term paper in this course. Each will count for 30% of your course grade. There will also be occasional short homework assignments, not graded but required to be on time for the final 10% of your grade. Class participation and improvement will be factors in any borderline final grades. Perfect attendance is strongly encouraged. If you need to miss class, please let me know in advance. It is especially important for the whole class to keep up with the readings, so that our discussions can be maximally useful.

PLAGIARISM

All work submitted for this course must be your own. Any plagiarism will result in a grade of E for the course. See the college academic honesty policy for definitions and details, at http://www.geneseo.edu/~bulletin/addpolicies.shtml#student_academic

COURSE SCHEDULE (page numbers from Bernecker and Dretske)

Note: all dates for specific topics are tentative!

Part One: What is Knowledge?

1/19 Introduction: knowledge as justified true belief.

1/21 Gettier, “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?” (13-15).

1/26 Goldman, “A Causal Theory of Knowing” (18-30).

1/28 Lehrer and Paxson, “Knowledge: Undefeated Justified True Belief” (31-41)

2/2 Dretske, “Conclusive Reasons” (42-62)

2/4 Armstrong, “The Thermometer Model of Knowledge” (72-85).

2/9 Goldman, “Discrimination and Perceptual Knowledge” (86-102).

2/11 Dretske , “Precis of Knowledge and the Flow of Information” (103-117).

2/16 BonJour, “The Elements of Coherentism” (128-148).

2/18 Lehrer, “The Coherence Theory of Knowledge” (149-165).

2/23 Foley, “What’s Wrong with Reliabilism?” (166-177).

2/25 BonJour, “Externalist Theories of Empirical Knowledge” (178-198).

3/2 Bach, “A Rationale for Reliabilism” (199-213).

3/4 Alston, “An Internalist Externalism” (214-230).

3/9 Catch-up and review.

3/11 EXAM 1

3/16-3/18 Spring Break – NO CLASS.

Part Two: Do We Have Any Knowledge?

3/23 Stroud, “Understanding Human Knowledge in General” (307-323).

3/25 Unger, “A Defense of Skepticism” (324-338).

3/30 Austin, “Other Minds” (339-346).

4/1 Nozick, “Knowledge and Skepticism” (339-365).

4/6 Lewis, “Elusive Knowledge” (366-385).

4/8 DeRose, “Solving the Skeptical Problem” (myCourses)

4/13 Everett, "Antiskeptical Conditionals" (myCourses).

4/15 Putnam, “Brains in a Vat” (386-399).

4/20 Great Day – NO CLASS

4/22 EXAM 2.

4/27 Hume, Enquiry Ch. 10 (myCourses).

4/29 Coady, “Testimony and Observation” (537-546)

5/4 Everett, “Other Voices, Other Minds” (myCourses).

5/7 (Friday) TERM PAPER DUE (4:00pm)

5/12 (Wednesday) Final meeting, 3:30-6:30pm.