This course is designed to introduce you to the basic issues in analytic epistemology. We shall begin by
looking at arguments designed to show that it is impossible to have any knowledge whatsoever, or at least that we cannot be justified in believing as we do. We shall then take up some classic epistemological
questions: What is the nature of knowledge? How should our beliefs be structured, if we are to be
justified in holding them? Must they be capable of empirical confirmation? We shall then turn to an
examination of special modes of knowledge, exploring whether (and if so how) we acquire knowledge of
the external world, of the world of necessary (a priori) truths. Classes will consist of lecture and
discussion supplemented occasionally with a video.
looking at arguments designed to show that it is impossible to have any knowledge whatsoever, or at least that we cannot be justified in believing as we do. We shall then take up some classic epistemological
questions: What is the nature of knowledge? How should our beliefs be structured, if we are to be
justified in holding them? Must they be capable of empirical confirmation? We shall then turn to an
examination of special modes of knowledge, exploring whether (and if so how) we acquire knowledge of
the external world, of the world of necessary (a priori) truths. Classes will consist of lecture and
discussion supplemented occasionally with a video.
- Teacher: Richard Brian Davis