This course will offer a survey of some recent debates in contemporary epistemology, including: whether knowledge is analyzable, whether knowledge is contextual, whether skepticism can be refuted, whether there is a priori knowledge, whether there is immediate justification, whether justification is internal or external, and whether truth is the primary epistemic goal.
This is a tentative list of topics, the defintive one will be given the first day of class:
1. “Should Knowledge Come First?”, by Tim Williamson, Trent Dougherty and Patrick Rysiew.
2. “Is Knowledge Closed Under Known Entailment?”, by Fred Dretske and John Hawthorne.
3. “Is Knowledge Contextual?”, by Earl Conee and Stewart Cohen.
4. “Do Practical Matters Affect Whether You Know?”, by Jeremy Fantl, Mathew McGrath, and Baron Reed.
5. “Can Skepticism Be Refuted?”, by Jonathan Vogel and Richard Fumerton.
6. “Are Intellectually Virtuous Motives Essential to Knowledge?”, by Jason Baehr and Linda Zagzebski.
7. “Can Knowledge Be Lucky?”, by Duncan Pritchard and Stephen Hetherington.
8. “Is There A Priori Knowledge?”, by Laurence BonJour and Michael Devitt.
9. “Is There Immediate Justification?”, by James Pryor and Juan Comesaña.
10. “Can Belief Be Justified Through Coherence Alone?”, by Catherine Elgin and James Van Cleve.
11. “Is Justification Internal?”, by John Greco and Richard Feldman.
12. “Is Truth the Primary Epistemic Goal?”, by Jonathan Kvanvig and Marian David.