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Two Methods of Social Ordering

Randy E. Barnett

in The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law

Personal and local knowledge can be harnessed by either centralized or decentralized decision‐making processes. Centralized decision‐making works insofar as the decision maker has access to the ... More

Personal and local knowledge can be harnessed by either centralized or decentralized decision‐making processes. Centralized decision‐making works insofar as the decision maker has access to the relevant personal and local knowledge. Since such access is limited, such decision‐making must be limited as well. Decentralizing jurisdiction to individuals and associations who have access to the relevant knowledge permits them to act on the basis of their personal and local knowledge. Requiring that transfers of jurisdiction be consensual, it addresses the ability of individuals and associations to incorporate into their decisions, the personal and local knowledge of others by making possible a meaningful system of resource prices.Less

Using Resources: The First‐Order Problem of Knowledge

Randy E. Barnett

in The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law

The first order problem of knowledge is identified as follows: In light of the multitude of individuals and associations, each with their own ever‐changing and potentially conflicting personal and ... More

The first order problem of knowledge is identified as follows: In light of the multitude of individuals and associations, each with their own ever‐changing and potentially conflicting personal and local knowledge of potential resource use, how is it possible for individuals to act on the basis of their own personal knowledge and for individuals and associations to act on the basis of their own local knowledge without producing irreconcilable and destructive conflict over resource use? In making their decisions, how are individuals and associations somehow to take into account the ever‐changing and potentially conflicting personal and local knowledge of others, to which by definition they do not, and often cannot, have access? The concept of ‘subjective scarcity’ of physical resources is also discussed.Less

Communicating Justice: The Second‐Order Problem of Knowledge

Randy E. Barnett

in The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law

The second‐order problem of knowledge is the need to communicate knowledge of justice in a manner that makes the actions it requires accessible to everyone. The need for this message to be conveyed ... More

The second‐order problem of knowledge is the need to communicate knowledge of justice in a manner that makes the actions it requires accessible to everyone. The need for this message to be conveyed in advance of persons taking action (ex ante) influences the form of the message in at least eight ways: (1) general rules or principles that are (2) publicized, (3) prospective in effect, (4) understandable, (5) compossible, (6) possible to follow, (7) stable, and (8) enforced as publicized. These formal requirements that are needed to communicate the message of justice ex ante are part of what is known as the rule of law. The need for ex ante information about allocation of several property rights also influences the substance of these rights including the prohibition on force and fraud.Less

Reliabilism and the Value of Knowledge

Alvin I. Goldman and Erik J. Olsson

in Reliabilism and Contemporary Epistemology: Essays

This chapter discusses two possible solutions to the value-of-knowledge problem. It first discusses the conditional probability solution, which was formulated and defended by Erik Olsson. It then ... More

This chapter discusses two possible solutions to the value-of-knowledge problem. It first discusses the conditional probability solution, which was formulated and defended by Erik Olsson. It then considers the “value autonomization”, which has been developed and defended by the author of this book. The chapter then stresses that the swamping problem is equally problematic for many theories of knowledge and internalist theories. The chapter also introduces the concepts of type instrumentalism and token instrumentalism.Less

: Easy Knowledge and the Criterion *

Ernest Sosa

in Reflective Knowledge: Apt Belief and Reflective Knowledge, Volume II

This chapter takes up the ‘problem of easy knowledge’ posed by Stewart Cohen, one closely related to a traditional problematic of vicious circularity, the problem of the criterion. It argues that ... More

This chapter takes up the ‘problem of easy knowledge’ posed by Stewart Cohen, one closely related to a traditional problematic of vicious circularity, the problem of the criterion. It argues that this problematic admits a resolution that embraces virtuous circularity.Less

Introduction

in Kant and Phenomenology

This introduction discusses the theme of this book, which is the role of Immanuel Kant's ideas in phenomenological approaches to epistemology. The book highlights the importance of Kant's critical ... More

This introduction discusses the theme of this book, which is the role of Immanuel Kant's ideas in phenomenological approaches to epistemology. The book highlights the importance of Kant's critical philosophy in understanding the epistemological thrust of phenomenology and argues that all later phenomenologists stand in Kant's debt. It analyzes the works of the most post-Kantian phenomenologists—including Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty—and describes how they reacted to the works of Kant in developing a distinctive phenomenological theory centered on the problem of knowledge.Less

Circles, Epistemic and Benign

Brian Weatherson

in Normative Externalism

If we reject level-crossing principles, some apparently circular reasoning becomes licensed. This looks like a problem for normative externalism. This chapter responds to the problem. The response ... More

If we reject level-crossing principles, some apparently circular reasoning becomes licensed. This looks like a problem for normative externalism. This chapter responds to the problem. The response takes some time, because it turns out there are many different ways to understand what it is for reasoning to be circular. The ultimate argument is that for every such way, either it is not problematic, or normative externalism does not license it. But there is no quick proof of this; each way to understand circular reasoning has to be treated separately. The chapter ends with a discussion of the Problem of Easy Knowledge, and of the norms for proper testing of measuring devices.Less

Introduction

Tom Rockmore

in Hegel, Idealism, and Analytic Philosophy

This book calls attention to Hegel's often unsuspected contribution to the problem of knowledge while highlighting deep differences limiting most, perhaps all, effort to appropriate Hegel for ... More

This book calls attention to Hegel's often unsuspected contribution to the problem of knowledge while highlighting deep differences limiting most, perhaps all, effort to appropriate Hegel for traditional analytic purposes. Hegel's interest for the contemporary debate on knowledge is not often recognized since even today his difficult position is still not well understood. He was refuted as part of the emergence of Anglo-American analytic philosophy in England a century ago. He is widely thought to be out of step with our historical moment, and even to have been “overcome,” for instance, by the results of modern science. The book examines Hegel's influence on three philosophical tendencies that emerged around the beginning of the last century, and which later came to dominate philosophical debate: American pragmatism, analytic philosophy, and the so-called phenomenological movement.Less