Abstract
In his book Knowledge and the State of Nature, Edward Craig proposes a new methodological approach to one of the crucial questions in epistemology, the question what knowledge is, or more precisely the question regarding the nature and the concept of knowledge. The main aim of the chapter is to discuss and to propose a distilled version of Craig's approach. The main issue is how to make sense of questions such as: What is the point of the concept of knowledge? and Why do we attribute knowledge? This chapter characterizes and defends a general way of understanding such questions, and contrasts it to elements of Craig's approach. On the basis of this, the chapter offers some views about what, in Craig's terminology, is the point of the concept of knowledge, and again the chapter contrasts this to some of the claims put forward by Craig. Like Craig, this chapter advocates that understanding the point of the concept of knowledge may yield some insights about knowledge and the concept of knowledge, though space does not permit a discussion of these further questions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Social Epistemology |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Publication date | 1 Jan 2011 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780199577477 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780191595189 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2011 |
Keywords
- Attributions of knowledge
- Concept of knowledge
- Craig
- Methodology of epistemology