Epistemology Personalized

Bibliographic Data

ID4351765
AuthorsMatthew A Benton (0000-0002-1163-0222, Seattle Pacific University, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume67
Issue269
Pages813-834
Publication date2017-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Philosophical Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0031-8094 • E-ISSN: 1467-9213
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/pq/pqx020
OpenAlexW4213425142
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited23

Recent epistemology has focused almost exclusively on propositional knowledge. This paper considers an underexplored area of epistemology, namely knowledge of persons: if propositional knowledge is a state of mind, consisting in a subject’s attitude to a (true) proposition, the account developed here thinks of interpersonal knowledge as a state of minds, involving a subject’s attitude to another (existing) subject. This kind of knowledge is distinct from propositional knowledge, but it exhibits a gradability characteristic of context-sensitivity, and admits of shifty thresholds. It is supported by a wide range of unexplored linguistic data and intuitive cases, and it promises to illuminate debates within epistemology, philosophy of religion, and ethics.

Art history · Epistemology · Library science · Computer Science · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · History · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Philosophy and Theoretical Science