SP18 PHIL382

PHIL382: Theory of Knowledge
Professor: Charles Wallis

Is my girlfriend or boyfriend cheating on me? Could Alan Greenspan have failed to know that the self-interest of lending institutions would prove woefully inadequate to protect shareholders’ equity? Are the people who still believe Obama is a Muslim the same people who still believe that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? These questions are the ponderings of our everyday lives. However, such practical questions presuppose answers to deeper philosophic questions regarding the nature, sources, structure, and extent of human knowledge:

(1) What is the nature of knowledge?
(2) What are the sources of knowledge for humans (and others)?
(3) Is there a relationship or structure between individuals bits to human knowledge and if so, what is that structure?
(4) What are the limitations of knowledge for humans (and others)?

An adequate answer to the first question would tell us what sorts of things can be (or are) knowledge, what properties distinguish knowledge from other states (like opinions), and how (and to what extent) knowledge benefits the knower. An adequate answer to the second question would provide a basis for identifying the sources (and potential sources) for human knowledge, how these sources give us knowledge, if these sources would provide knowledge for other creatures, how we could tell if other sources were potential sources of knowledge for some creatures, etc. Similarly, an answer to the third question would tell us what, if anything, humans cannot know, what conditions would prevent knowledge, and even what humans might find difficult to learn and know. Thus, the study of epistemology enriches our understanding of ourselves as cognitive creatures and leads, potentially to improvements in our efficacy as epistemic agents in the real world. This class looks at important answers to the philosophic questions underlying our everyday concerns about knowledge and knowing. We will survey the works of historical and contemporary thinkers from Philosophy and Psychology. The class also examines the background assumptions and methodology behind the views of these thinkers and of contemporary philosophy in general.