Ernest Sosa
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691183268
- eISBN:
- 9781400883059
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691183268.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
In this concise book, one of the world's leading epistemologists provides a sophisticated, revisionist introduction to the problem of knowledge in Western philosophy. Modern and contemporary accounts ...
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In this concise book, one of the world's leading epistemologists provides a sophisticated, revisionist introduction to the problem of knowledge in Western philosophy. Modern and contemporary accounts of epistemology tend to focus on limited questions of knowledge and skepticism, such as how we can know the external world, other minds, the past through memory, the future through induction, or the world's depth and structure through inference. The book steps back for a better view of the more general issues posed by the ancient Greek Pyrrhonists. Returning to and illuminating this older, broader epistemological tradition, the book develops an original account of the subject, giving it substance not with Cartesian theology but with science and common sense. Descartes is a part of this ancient tradition, but he goes beyond it by considering not just whether knowledge is possible at all but also how we can properly attain it. In Cartesian epistemology, the book finds a virtue-theoretic account, one that is extended beyond the Cartesian context. Once epistemology is viewed in this light, many of its problems can be solved or fall away. The result is an important reevaluation of epistemology that will be essential reading for students and teachers.Less
In this concise book, one of the world's leading epistemologists provides a sophisticated, revisionist introduction to the problem of knowledge in Western philosophy. Modern and contemporary accounts of epistemology tend to focus on limited questions of knowledge and skepticism, such as how we can know the external world, other minds, the past through memory, the future through induction, or the world's depth and structure through inference. The book steps back for a better view of the more general issues posed by the ancient Greek Pyrrhonists. Returning to and illuminating this older, broader epistemological tradition, the book develops an original account of the subject, giving it substance not with Cartesian theology but with science and common sense. Descartes is a part of this ancient tradition, but he goes beyond it by considering not just whether knowledge is possible at all but also how we can properly attain it. In Cartesian epistemology, the book finds a virtue-theoretic account, one that is extended beyond the Cartesian context. Once epistemology is viewed in this light, many of its problems can be solved or fall away. The result is an important reevaluation of epistemology that will be essential reading for students and teachers.
Lawrence F. Rhu
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823225965
- eISBN:
- 9780823235636
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823225965.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, American Philosophy
This chapter shows the opportunities repeatedly provided to Cavell to formulate his thought, giving comprehensible expression to such meeting places as the classrooms and ...
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This chapter shows the opportunities repeatedly provided to Cavell to formulate his thought, giving comprehensible expression to such meeting places as the classrooms and movie theaters that enabled him to reach the audience for philosophy, as it is frequently conceived by professional practitioners of that discipline. Here, he characterizes Ralph Waldo Emerson as an epistemologist of moods; in other words his theory of knowledge includes how we feel towards what we know. Indeed it was the appeal of movies that made Cavell start to think in a more profound way. He wanted to utilize this energy of attraction to motivate his philosophical writings, for the reason that these movies sometimes offer us relief if the world we view and the world we inhabit significantly coincide.Less
This chapter shows the opportunities repeatedly provided to Cavell to formulate his thought, giving comprehensible expression to such meeting places as the classrooms and movie theaters that enabled him to reach the audience for philosophy, as it is frequently conceived by professional practitioners of that discipline. Here, he characterizes Ralph Waldo Emerson as an epistemologist of moods; in other words his theory of knowledge includes how we feel towards what we know. Indeed it was the appeal of movies that made Cavell start to think in a more profound way. He wanted to utilize this energy of attraction to motivate his philosophical writings, for the reason that these movies sometimes offer us relief if the world we view and the world we inhabit significantly coincide.
