Attributing Knowledge

Contents Introduction 1. Knowledge attributions to minimal epistemic agents 2. Knowledge and knowing that P; "knowledge" and "knowing that P" 3. The variability of know(s) that judgments 4. Assertion norms 5. Usage traps in the language of iterated knowledge attributions 6. Iterated and ground-floor knowledge, KK and K¬K, arguments and empirical studies 7. Inferential justification 8. Representational justification and challenges to "the given" 9. Confidence, belief and knowledge; the vagueness of "know(s)" 10. Usage challenges to fallibilism 11. The (complex) structure of the meaning of "know(s)" Appendix: The aesthetics of hangman knots Detailed Contents Introduction Part 1 i. Epistemology: What it is ii. The importance of words iii. Some of the distinctive epistemic claims I attempt in this book iv. Brief synopses of the chapters in this book Part 2 v. Insights from lexical semantics: Ambiguity and polysemy vi. Insights from lexical semantics: Retraction and the factivity of "know(s)" vii. Insights from lexical semantics: Literality and metaphoricality viii. Insights from lexical semantics: Semantic entailments ix. The lexical analysis of words versus the functional analysis of them x. An example: "true" xi. Xphilosophy and the threat of idiolectical scepticism 1. Knowledge attributions to minimal epistemic agents 1.1 First remarks 1.2 What animals know 1.3 Insects and non-biological things know a lot too 1.4 The flexibility of cognition attributions: Φ ing that p 1.5 Knowledge, belief, action and consciousness 1.6 Knowledge and belief (and consciousness too) 1.7 Mindless knowing 1.8 Final lesson from knowledge attributions to animals: Methods of knowing aren't modular 1.9 What's been done and a look ahead 2. Knowledge and knowing that A; "knowledge" and "knowing that" 2.1 First remarks 2.2 "Knowledge" 2.3 "Knowing P" and "knowing that P" 3. The variability of know(s)-that judgments 3.1 First remarks 3.2 Some thought experiments that are problematic for classic invariantists 3.3 Hawthorne's DSK principle 3.4 Comparing knowing and knowledge attributions across contexts 3.5 Comparing knowing and knowledge attributions across agents 3.6 Knowledge-relativism denied 3.7 What speaker-hearers can reasonably be taken to be confused about with respect to their own usage 3.8 Making progress? (Where we are and where we're going) 4. Assertion norms 4.1 Introduction; preliminaries about assertion 4.2 Semantic perceptions 4.3 Experiencing asserting, assertions, and their differences 4.4 The assertions of spokespersons and Moorean remarks 4.5 Assertions: Of journalists, in advertisements, by cartoon characters and flakes 4.6 Assertion norms 4.7 Burge's acceptance principle 4.8 Expectations in special cases 4.9 Concluding remarks 5. Usage traps in the language of iterated knowledge attributions 5.1 Introductory remarks about KK and K¬K, and about metacognition 5.2 Exclamation and redundancy uses of "know(s)" 5.3 Redundancy usages for "aware" and the puzzling case of pain 5.4 Iterated knowledge and an agent's command of her concepts 5.5 Davidson, Dretske, Esken, and Malcolm on metacognition, cognition, belief and metabelief 5.6 Iterated knowledge and belief, and justification 5.7 Level-confusions in epistemology 5.8 Conclusion and transition to the next chapter 6. Iterated and ground-floor cognition, KK and K¬K arguments and empirical studies 6.1 Introduction 6.2 The Cartesian perspective: Full metacognition about the self 6.3 A very minimal ground-floor epistemic agent who cognizes and knows without iterated knowledge or cognitions 6.4 The non-transparency of knowing state 6.5 Iterated knowledge about deduction 6.6 Nonhuman-animal studies in "metacognition" 6.7 A possible case of nonhuman-animal iterated cognition? 6.8 Conclusion 7. Inferential justification 7.1 First remarks 7.2 Justification and truth 7.3 Justifications based on truth-preserving deduction 7.4 Infinite chains of justifications 7.4.1 Infinite deductive sequences of justifications 7.4.2 Probabilistic infinite sequences of justifications 7.4.3 A failing grade for infinitism, nevertheless 7.5 Conclusion 8. Representational justification and challenges to the given 8.1 Representational justification characterized 8.2 Representation and deduction exhaust justification 8.3 The given-dilemma for nonpropositional justification 8.4 Why representational justifications needn't be experiential 8.5 There are justificational stopping points 8.6 Justificational stopping points in conversation 8.7 Metacognitive motivations for enriching justification 8.8 Concluding remarks 9. Confidence, belief and knowledge; the vagueness of "know(s)" 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Piecemeal knowledge and piecemeal iterated knowledge 9.3 Confidence, knowledge and iterated knowledge 9.4 The invisibility of epistemic standards; the invisibility of the vagueness of epistemic standards 9.5 Williamson on KK 9.6 Concluding remarks 10. Usage challenges to fallibilism 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Preliminaries: Characterizing fallibilism, infallibilism and parity reasoning 10.3 When factivity misleads 10.4 The factivity of "know(s)" and Kripke's dogmatism paradox 10.5 The factivity and fallibility of "know(s)," and lotteries 10.6 Going to extremes 10.7 Prefaces and lotteries 10.8 Fallibility implies the denial of knowledge closure 10.9 Rational belief and concluding remarks 11. The (complex) structure of the meaning of "know(s)" 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Necessary conditions and sufficient conditions for "know(s)"; the relation of these conditions to criterion transcendence 11.3 Why "know(s)" evades a definition 11.4 Conceptually engineering a successor notion to "know(s)"? 11.5 Social-role epistemology 11.6 Conclusion (to the whole book) Appendix: The aesthetics of hangman knots