Reliabilism;
Truth tracking;
Probabilistic tracking;
Problem of generality;
Pragmatism;
Representationalism;
Knowledge;
Belief;
Truth;
Robert Brandom;
Inferentialism;
D O I:
10.1007/s11229-017-1506-9
中图分类号:
N09 [自然科学史];
B [哲学、宗教];
学科分类号:
01 ;
0101 ;
010108 ;
060207 ;
060305 ;
0712 ;
摘要:
I take issue with Robert Brandom's claim that on an analysis of knowledge based on objective probabilities it is not possible to provide a stable answer to the question whether a belief has the status of knowledge. I argue that the version of the problem of generality developed by Brandom doesn't undermine a truth-tracking account of noninferential knowledge that construes truth-tacking in terms of conditional probabilities. I then consider Sherrilyn Roush's claim that an account of knowledge based on probabilistic tracking faces a version of the problem of generality. I argue that the problems she raises are specific to her account, and do not affect the version of the view that I have advanced. I then consider Brandom's argument that the cases that motivate reliabilist epistemologies are in principle exceptional. I argue that he has failed to make a cogent case for this claim. I close with the suggestion that the representationalist approach to knowledge that I endorse and Brandom rejects is in principle compatible with the kind of pragmatist approach to belief and truth that both Brandom and I endorse.