Table Of Content

SCEPTICISM, KNOWLEDGE, AND FORMS OF REASONING Also by John Koethe Philosophy The Continuity ofWittgenstein's Thought Poetry Blue Vents Domes The Late Wisconsin Spring Falling Water The Constructor North Point North: New and Selected Poems Sally's Hair Criticism Poetry at One Remove: Essays Scepticism, Knowledge, and Forms of Reasoning JOHN KOETHE CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON Copyright© 2005 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2005 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Koethe, John. Scepticism, knowledge, and forms of reasoning I John Koethe. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-o-8014-4432-6 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN-10: o-8014-4432-2 (cloth: alk. paper) 1. Skepticism. 2. Knowledge, Theory of. 3· Epistemics. 4· Reasoning. I. Title. B837.K66 2005 121-dc22 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonw ood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To my son, fohn Robert CONTENTS Preface ix Introduction 1 CHAPTER 1. Sceptical Arguments and the Transmission Principle 10 1. Dreaming-type Arguments 11 2. Some Other Sceptical Arguments 14 3· An Alternative Reconstruction of Dreaming-type Arguments 18 4· Sceptical Arguments as Schematic 2 5 CHAPTER 2. Knowledge and Possibility 29 1. The Evolution of Epistemic Possibility 30 2. Some Accounts of Epistemic Possibility 32 3· Knowledge 37 4· Knowledge and Possibility as Duals 41 5· Knowledge and Mental States 43 6. Social Dimensions of Knowledge 46 7· Some Vagaries of the First Person 48 8. Sceptical Arguments Revisited 50 CHAPTER 3· The Status of the Sceptic's Premises 53 1. The Seductiveness of Sceptical Hypotheses 54 2. Moore's Response 57 3· A Possible Wittgensteinian Response 61 vii 4· A Coherentist Response 66 5· The Contextualist Response 69 CHAPTER 4· Epistemological Realism 79 I. Epistemological Realism and Sceptical Arguments So 2. The Communicative Role of Epistemic Terms 84 3· A Semantics for Knowledge and Possibility 9I Appendix: Realism and the Scope of Knowledge 96 CHAPTER 5· The Status of the Transmission Principle 104 1. Principles and Practice I05 2. A Direct Case for the Validity of the Transmission Principle Io8 3· Explaining Knowledge by Deduction 112 4· Restricting the Transmission Principle 118 Appendix: Hawthorne on Knowledge and Lotteries I23 CHAPTER 6. Sceptical Arguments and Forms of Reasoning 130 I. Sceptical Arguments as Anomalous I3I 2. Conditions Conducive to the Anomaly 139 3· Moral Luck and Freedom I43 4· Agreement and Generality I 52 Index I59 viii Contents