2013/10/01 by R. Pasnau, Robert Pasnau · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics #Philosophy and Theoretical Science
paper · doi:10.1093/mind/fzt093
Epistemology today centrally concerns the conceptual analysis of knowledge. Historically, however, this is a concept that philosophers have seldom been interested in analysing, particularly when it is construed as broadly as the English language would have it. Instead, the overriding focus of epistemologists over the centuries has been, first, to describe the epistemic ideal that human beings might hope to achieve, and then go on to chart the various ways in which we ordinarily fall off from that ideal. I discuss in detail two historical manifestations of idealized epistemology – Aristotle and Descartes – and then consider how this perspective might make a difference to the discipline today. In the end, an idealized epistemology points toward a normative, prescriptive rather than descriptive enterprise. 1. Epistemology as lexicology I begin with an historical puzzle, and end with the suggestion that something is missing from recent work in epistemology. The puzzle concerns the large gap between epistemology as it was done for most of its history and epistemology today. Today, epistemology primarily concerns conceptual analysis, first and foremost the analysis of knowledge itself. Historically, however, this is a concept that philosophers have seldom been