Episteme

Table of Contents - 01 October 2007 - Volume 4, Issue 03  

Research Article

Testimony and A Priori Knowledge

Albert Casullo

ABSTRACT

Tyler Burge offers a theory of testimony that allows for the possibility of both testimonial a priori warrant and testimonial a priori knowledge. I uncover a tension in his account of the relationship between the two, and locate its source in the analogy that Burge draws between testimonial warrant and preservative memory. I contend that this analogy should be rejected, and offer a revision of Burge's theory that eliminates the tension. I conclude by assessing the impact of the revised theory on the scope of a priori knowledge.

Albert Casullo is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His primary research interests are in epistemology and metaphysics. He is the author of A Priori Justification.