Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T14:14:27.364Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

RELATIVISM, KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2013

J. Adam Carter
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The arguments for and against a truth-relativist semantics for propositional knowledge attributions (KTR) have been debated almost exclusively in the philosophy of language. But what implications would this semantic thesis have in epistemology? This question has been largely unexplored. The aim of this paper is to establish and critique several ramifications of KTR in mainstream epistemology. The first section of the paper develops, over a series of arguments, the claim that MacFarlane's (2005, 2010) core argument for KTR ultimately motivates (for better or worse) the extension of a truth-relativist semantics to a subset of understanding attributions – attributions of understanding-why. I conclude by presenting some reasons to think that even if KTR were otherwise plausible, a truth-relativist semantics for understanding-why attributions is not. These claims, taken together, constitute a kind of epistemological argument against MacFarlane-style truth-relativism for knowledge attributions.

Type
Articles
Information
Episteme , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , March 2014 , pp. 35 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baehr, J. 2012. ‘Two Types of Wisdom.’ Acta Analytica, 27: 81–97.Google Scholar
Baghramian, M. 2004. Relativism. Routledge.Google Scholar
Baker, C. 2012. ‘Indexical Contextualism and the Challenges From Disagreement.’ Philosophical Studies, 157: 101–23.Google Scholar
Blome-Tillmann, M. 2009. ‘Contextualism, Subject-Sensitive Invariantism, and the Interaction of ‘Knowledge’-Ascriptions with Modal and Temporal Operators.’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 79: 315–31.Google Scholar
Boghossian, P. 2006. Fear of Knowledge. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Brogaard, B. 2005. ‘I Know. Therefore, I Understand.’ Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Cappelen, H. and Hawthorne, J. 2009. Relativism and Monadic Truth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, J. A. 2013. ‘Relativism, Disagreement and Doxastic Revision.’ In Cohnitz, D. and Marques, T. (eds), Erkenntnis, Special Issue on Disagreements. 10.1007/s10670-013-9450-7Google Scholar
Carter, J. A. and Gordon, E.C. Forthcoming. ‘Objectual Understanding and the Value Problem.’ American Philosophical Quarterly.Google Scholar
de Regt, H. 2009. ‘Understanding and Scientific Explanation.’ In de Regt, H., Leonelli, S. and Enger, K. (eds), Scientific Understanding: Philosophical Perspectives, pp. 21–42. Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Regt, H. and Dieks, D. 2005. ‘A Contextual Approach to Scientific Understanding.’ Synthese, 144: 137–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeRose, K. 1992. ‘Contextualism and Knowledge Attributions.’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 52: 913–29.Google Scholar
DeRose, K. 1995. ‘Solving the Skeptical Paradox.’ Philosophical Review, 104: 1–52.Google Scholar
DeRose, K. 2004. ‘Single Scoreboard Semantics.’ Philosophical Studies, 119: 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dreier, J. 2009. ‘Relativism (and Expressivism) and the Problem of Disagreement.’ Philosophical Perspectives, 23: 79–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dreyfus, H. 2005. ‘Overcoming the Myth of the Mental: How Philosophers Can Profit From the Phenomenology of Everyday Expertise.’ APA Pacific Division Presidential Address.Google Scholar
Egan, A. 2007. ‘Epistemic Modals, Relativism and Assertion.’ Philosophical Studies, 133: 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egan, A., Hawthorne, J. & Weatherson, B. 2005. ‘Epistemic Modals in Context.’ In Peter, G. and Preyer, G. (eds), Contextualism in Philosophy: Knowledge, Meaning and Truth, pp. 131–70. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Elgin, C. 2009. ‘Is Understanding Factive?’ In Pritchard, D., Millar, A. and Haddock, A. (eds), Epistemic Value, pp. 322–30. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Francén, R. 2010. ‘No Deep Disagreement for New Relativists.’ Philosophical Studies, 151: 19–37.Google Scholar
Glick, E. 2012. ‘Abilities and Knowledge-How Attributions.’ In Brown, J. and Gerken, M. (eds), Knowledge Ascriptions, pp. 120–39. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gordon, E. 2012. ‘Is There Propositional Understanding?’ Logos & Episteme, 3: 181–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greco, J. 2008. ‘What's Wrong With Contextualism?’ The Philosophical Quarterly, 58: 416–36.Google Scholar
Grimm, S. R. 2006. ‘Is Understanding A Species of Knowledge?’ British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 57: 515–35.Google Scholar
Grimm, S. R. 2010. ‘Understanding.’ In Bernecker, S. and Pritchard, D. (eds), Routledge Companion to Epistemology, pp. 84–94. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Grimm, S. R. Forthcoming. ‘Understanding as Knowledge of Causes.’ In Fairweather, A. (ed.), Virtue Scientia: Essays in Philosophy of Science and Virtue Epistemology. New York, NY: Springer.Google Scholar
Hacking, I. 1982. ‘Language, Truth and Reason.’ In Rationality and Relativism, pp. 48–66. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Hills, A. 2009. ‘Moral Testimony and Moral Epistemology.’ Ethics, 120: 94–127.Google Scholar
Hintikka, J. 1975. ‘Different Constructions in Terms of the Basic Epistemological Verbs.’ In The Intentions of Intentionality and Other New Models for Modalities, pp. 1–25. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Company.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khalifa, K. 2013. ‘Is Understanding Explanatory or Objectual?’ Synthese, 190: 1153–71.Google Scholar
Kitcher, P. 2002. ‘Scientific Knowledge.’ In Moser, P. (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Epistemology, pp. 385–407. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kölbel, M. 2002. Truth Without Objectivity. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kölbel, M. 2003. ‘Faultless Disagreement.’ Proceedings from the Aristotelian Society, 104: 53–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kvanvig, J. 2003. The Value of Knowledge and the Pursuit of Understanding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lasersohn, P. 2005. ‘Context Dependence, Disagreement and Predicates of Personal Taste.’ Linguistics and Philosophy, 28: 643–86.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. 1980. ‘Index, Context and Content.’ In Kanger, S. and Öhman, S. (eds), Philosophy and Grammar. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Company..Google Scholar
Lewis, D. 1986. ‘Causal Explanation.’ In Philosophical Papers, Vol. 2. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lipton, P. 2004. Inference to the Best Explanation. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Longworth, G. 2008. ‘Linguistic Understanding and Knowledge.’ Nous, 1: 50–79.Google Scholar
MacFarlane, J. 2003. ‘Future Contingents and Relative Truth.’ The Philosophical Quarterly, 53(212): 321–36.Google Scholar
MacFarlane, J. 2005. ‘The Assessment Sensitivity of Knowledge Attributions.’ In Gendler, T. and Hawthorne, J. (eds), Oxford Studies in Epistemology, Vol. 1, pp. 197–233. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacFarlane, J. 2007. ‘Relativism and Disagreement.’ Philosophical Studies, 132: 17–31.Google Scholar
MacFarlane, J. 2009. ‘Nonindexical Contextualism.’ Synthese, 166: 231–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacFarlane, J. 2010. ‘Relativism and Knowledge Attributions.’ In Bernecker, S. and Pritchard, D. (eds), Routledge Companion to Epistemology, pp. 536–44. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
MacFarlane, J. 2011. ‘Epistemic Modals are Assessment Sensitive.’ In Egan, A. and Weatherson, B. (eds), Epistemic Modality, pp. 144–79. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pritchard, D. 2008. ‘Knowing the Answer, Understanding and Epistemic Value.’ Grazer Philosophische Studien, 77: 325–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pritchard, D. 2009. ‘Knowledge, Understanding and Epistemic Value.’ In O'Hear, A. (ed.), Epistemology, pp. 19–43. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pritchard, D. 2010. ‘Epistemic Relativism, Epistemic Incommensurability and Wittgenstenian Epistemology.’ In Hales, S. (ed.), Blackwell Companion to Relativism, pp. 266–85. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Pritchard, D. Forthcoming. ‘Knowledge and Understanding.’ In Fairweather, A. (ed.), Virtue Scientia: Virtue Epistemology and the Philosophy of Science. New York, NY: Springer.Google Scholar
Richard, M. 2004. ‘Contextualism and Relativism.’ Philosophical Studies, 119: 215–42.Google Scholar
Riggs, W. 2009. ‘Understanding, Knowledge, and the Meno Requirement.’ In Pritchard, D., Millar, A. and Haddock, A. (eds), Epistemic Value, pp. 331–8. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rorty, R. 1995. ‘Is Truth A Goal of Inquiry? Davidson vs. Wright.’ Philosophical Quarterly, 45, 281–300.Google Scholar
Ryle, G. 1946. ‘Knowing How and Knowing That.’ Proceedings from the Aristotelian Society, 46: 1–16.Google Scholar
Ryle, G. 1949. The Concept of Mind. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Rysiew, P. 2001. ‘The Context-sensitivity of Knowledge Attributions.’ Noûs, 35: 477–514.Google Scholar
Skyrms, B. 1980. Causal Necessity: A Pragmatic Investigation of the Necessity of Laws. Newhaven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Stanley, J. 2005. Knowledge and Practical Interests. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanley, J. 2011. Know How. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stanley, J. & Williamson, T. 2001. ‘Knowing How.’ Journal of Philosophy, 98: 411–44.Google Scholar
Sundell, T. 2011. Disagreements about taste. Philosophical Studies, 155: 267–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weatherson, B. 2005. ‘Can We Do Without Pragmatic Encroachment?’ Philosophical Perspectives, 19: 417–43.Google Scholar
Weatherson, B. 2009a. E ≠ K. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Weatherson, B. 2009b. ‘Conditionals and Indexical Relativism.’ Synthese, 166: 333–57.Google Scholar
Williamson, T. 2000. Knowledge and its Limits. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Woodward, J. 2003. Making Things Happen: A Theory of Causal Explanation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Zagzebski, L. 2001. ‘Recovering Understanding.’ In Steup, M. (ed.), Knowledge, Truth, and Duty, pp. 235–52. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar