Episteme

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

Research Article

Discrimination and Testimonial Knowledge

John Greco

ABSTRACT

Sanford Goldberg has called our attention to an interesting problem: How is it that young children can learn from the testimony of their caregivers (their parents, teachers, and nannies, for example) even when the children themselves are undiscriminating consumers of testimony? Part One describes the importance and scope of the problem, showing that it generalizes beyond tots and their caregivers. Part Two considers and rejects several strategies for solving the problem, including Goldberg's own. Part Three defends a solution, positing a previously unnoticed social dimension to knowledge.

John Greco is the Leonard and Elizabeth Eslick Chair in Philosophy at Saint Louis University. He received his Ph.D. from Brown University in 1989. Recent publications include: Sosa and His Critics (ed.) (Blackwell, 2004) and Putting Skeptics in Their Place: The Nature of Skeptical Arguments and Their Role in Philosophical Inquiry (Cambridge University Press, 2000).