The Philosophy of Knowledge: A History
Published on 18. April 2024
Book
978-1-350-44664-9 (ISBN)
Description
Within these four volumes, we meet much of whatever epistemology has been and is. Why is this form of historical engagement philosophically important?
The Philosophy of Knowledge: A History presents the history of one of Western philosophy's greatest challenges: understanding the nature of knowledge. To know epistemology's history is to know better what contemporary epistemology could be and perhaps should be - and what it need not be and perhaps ought not to be.
Divided chronologically into four volumes, it follows conceptions of knowledge that have been proposed, defended, replaced, and proposed anew by ancient, medieval, modern and contemporary philosophers.
Each volume centers around three key questions: what conceptions of knowledge have been offered? Which have shaped epistemology in particular and philosophy in general? How is knowledge conceived by philosophers now? Together these volumes trace the historical development of knowledge for the first time, covering:
- Presocratics, Sophists and treatments of knowledge offered by Socrates and Plato
- The influence of Aristotle and Augustine during the Middle Ages
- Questions of science and religion in the 17th, 18th and 19th century and the work of Descartes, Hobbes, Kant and Leibniz
- Contemporary discussions about scientific, social and self-knowledge and attempts to understand knowledge naturalistically, contextually and normatively.
With original insights into the vast sweep of ways in which philosophers have sought to understand knowledge, The Philosophy of Knowledge: A History embraces what is vital and evolving within contemporary epistemology. Overseen by an international team of leading philosophers and featuring 50 specially-commissioned chapters, this is a major collection on one of philosophy's defining topics.
The Philosophy of Knowledge: A History presents the history of one of Western philosophy's greatest challenges: understanding the nature of knowledge. To know epistemology's history is to know better what contemporary epistemology could be and perhaps should be - and what it need not be and perhaps ought not to be.
Divided chronologically into four volumes, it follows conceptions of knowledge that have been proposed, defended, replaced, and proposed anew by ancient, medieval, modern and contemporary philosophers.
Each volume centers around three key questions: what conceptions of knowledge have been offered? Which have shaped epistemology in particular and philosophy in general? How is knowledge conceived by philosophers now? Together these volumes trace the historical development of knowledge for the first time, covering:
- Presocratics, Sophists and treatments of knowledge offered by Socrates and Plato
- The influence of Aristotle and Augustine during the Middle Ages
- Questions of science and religion in the 17th, 18th and 19th century and the work of Descartes, Hobbes, Kant and Leibniz
- Contemporary discussions about scientific, social and self-knowledge and attempts to understand knowledge naturalistically, contextually and normatively.
With original insights into the vast sweep of ways in which philosophers have sought to understand knowledge, The Philosophy of Knowledge: A History embraces what is vital and evolving within contemporary epistemology. Overseen by an international team of leading philosophers and featuring 50 specially-commissioned chapters, this is a major collection on one of philosophy's defining topics.
Reviews / Votes
The Philosophy of Knowledge is a truly remarkable work. In addition to its vast breadth, the set is commendable for the expertise of the contributors and the clarity and rigor of their essays. The set has three chief virtues: it provides a clear understanding of Western epistemology; each individual volume makes for an ideal resource for courses focusing on that period; and the individual essays themselves are perfect complements to primary works of the philosopher(s) addressed. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers. * CHOICE * This ambitious fourfold work aims to provide an overview of Western epistemology, from the Greeks through contributions on the contemporary scene. The project engaged distinguished editors for the four volumes, respectively on four great periods: ancient Greek, medieval, modern, and contemporary. No one philosopher could have attained the depth and detail attained in this collective effort, which is bound to serve as an invaluable resource on epistemological topics and on the development of Western thought about them. * Ernest Sosa, Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers University, USA * The Philosophy of Knowledge: A History is a tremendous achievement. Its four volumes cover the entire scope of Western epistemology, from the ancient world through the medieval and modern periods to the contemporary scene, with essays on the most influential figures in each of these periods. The result is a splendid overview on how fundamental questions about knowledge have been thought about over the millennia. These volumes will be the standard resource for all those interested in the history epistemology for decades to come. * Richard Foley, Professor of Philosophy, New York University, USA * This series of four volumes gives a reader the opportunity to take a fascinating voyage through the history of epistemology with an emphasis on the evolution of various theories of knowledge. The four volumes of the anthology address theories of knowledge put forth by influential figures in Ancient Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy, Modern Philosophy, and Contemporary Philosophy. The authors who contribute to the volumes are experts in their fields and the chapters in each volume are uniformly excellent. The discussion is both accessible and sophisticated and the theories discussed are contextualized in such a way that one understands how they fit within a broader philosophical framework. * Richard Fumerton, F. Wendell Miller Professor of Philosophy, University of Iowa, USA *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 158 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
1673 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-44664-9 (9781350446649)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Stephen Hetherington is Professor of Philosophy at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Nicholas D. Smith is James F. Miller Professor of Humanities at Lewis & Clark College, USA.
Henrik Lagerlund is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
Stephen Gaukroger is Professor of History of Philosophy and History of Science at the University of Sydney, Australia.
Markos Valaris is Lecturer of Philosophy at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Nicholas D. Smith is James F. Miller Professor of Humanities at Lewis & Clark College, USA.
Henrik Lagerlund is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
Stephen Gaukroger is Professor of History of Philosophy and History of Science at the University of Sydney, Australia.
Markos Valaris is Lecturer of Philosophy at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Content
Volume I: Knowledge in Ancient Philosophy
(ed.) Nicholas D. Smith
Ancient Epistemology: Introduction (Nicholas D. Smith)
1. 'Sophia' and 'Episteme' in the Archaic and Classical Periods (David Wolfsdorf)
2. Presocratic Epistemology (Daniel W. Graham)
3. Epistemology in the Sophists (Noburu Notomi)
4. Socratic Epistemology (Jose Lourenco and Nicholas D. Smith)
5. Epistemology in Plato's Middle Dialogues (Naomi Reshotko)
6. Plato's Later Epistemology (Hugh H. Benson)
7. Aristotle on Understanding and Practical Wisdom (Corinne Gartner)
8. Aristotle: From Perception to Understanding (Keith McPartland)
9. Epicurean Epistemology (Pierre-Marie Morel)
10. Stoic Epistemology (Marcelo Boeri)
11. Ancient Scepticism (Paul Woodruff)
12. Epistemologies in Neoplatonism (Peter Lautner)
13. Roman Epistemology (Walter Englert)
Volume II: Knowledge in Medieval Philosophy
(ed.) Henrik Lagerlund
1. Avicenna on Knowledge: Deborah Black (University of Toronto)
2. Scientia in the 12th Century: Rafael Najera ( Brown University)
3. Averroes on Demonstration: Richard Taylor (Marquette University)
4. Grosseteste on Demonstration: John Longeway (formerly of University of Wisconsin, Parkside)
5. Aquinas on Knowledge and Demonstration: Alexander Hall (Clayton State University)
6. Henry of Ghent and John Duns Scotus on Knowledge
7. William Ockham on Knowledge
8. Nicholas of Autrecourt on Knowledge: Ghristophe Grellard (University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne - not yet confirmed)
9. John Buridan on Knowledge: Gyula Klima (Fordham University)
10. The Posterior Analytics after Buridan: Henrik Lagerlund (University of Western Ontario)
11. Suarez on Knowledge: Benjamin Hill (University of Western Ontario)
Volume III: Knowledge in Modern Philosophy
(ed.) Stephen Gaukroger
1. Bacon: Dana Jalobeanu
2. Hobbes and Gassendi: Antonia LoLordo and Stewart Duncan (University of Virginia)
3. Descartes: Anik Waldow (University of Sydney)
4. Spinoza: Aaron Garrett (Boston University)
5. Malebranche and Berkeley: Andrew Pyle
6. Leibniz: Justin Smith
7. Locke: Peter Anstey (University of Sydney)
8. Hume: Margaret Schabas (University of British Columbia)
9. Kant: John Zammito (Rice University)
10. German Idealism: Dean Moyar
11. German Philosophy between Hegel and Frege: Frederick Beiser (Syracuse University)
12. Whewell, Mill, and the Birth of the Philosophy of Science: Stephen Gaukroger (University of Sydney)
Volume IV: Knowledge in Contemporary Philosophy
(eds.) Stephen Hetherington and Markos Valaris
1. Pragmatism and Epistemology: Scott Aikin (Vanderbilt University)
2. On Our Epistemological Debt to Moore and Russell: Claudio de Almeida (PUCRS, Brazil)
3. What Knowledge Is Not: Reflections on Some Uses of the Verb 'To Know': Julia Tanney (independent scholar; formerly at University of Kent))
4. Naturalistic Descriptions of Knowledge: Kourken Michaelian (University of Otago)
5. Knowing the Unobservable: Confirmation and Theoretical Virtue: Stathis Psillos (University of Athens)
6. Social Knowledge and Social Norms: Peter J. Graham (University of California, Riverside)
7. Knowledge-How and Perceptual Learning: Berit Brogaard (University of Miami)
8. Self-Knowledge: Markos Valaris (University of New South Wales)
9. Knowledge as Contextual: Michael Blome-Tillmann (McGill University)
10. Knowledge and Probability: Weng Hong Tang (National University of Singapore)
11. Analysing the Concept of Knowledge: Duncan Pritchard (University of Edinburgh)
12. Conceiving of Knowledge in Modal Terms? Stephen Hetherington (University of New South Wales)
13. Knowledge and Normativity: Clayton Littlejohn (King's College London)
14. Intellectual Virtue and Knowledge: Heather Battaly (California State University, Fullerton)
(ed.) Nicholas D. Smith
Ancient Epistemology: Introduction (Nicholas D. Smith)
1. 'Sophia' and 'Episteme' in the Archaic and Classical Periods (David Wolfsdorf)
2. Presocratic Epistemology (Daniel W. Graham)
3. Epistemology in the Sophists (Noburu Notomi)
4. Socratic Epistemology (Jose Lourenco and Nicholas D. Smith)
5. Epistemology in Plato's Middle Dialogues (Naomi Reshotko)
6. Plato's Later Epistemology (Hugh H. Benson)
7. Aristotle on Understanding and Practical Wisdom (Corinne Gartner)
8. Aristotle: From Perception to Understanding (Keith McPartland)
9. Epicurean Epistemology (Pierre-Marie Morel)
10. Stoic Epistemology (Marcelo Boeri)
11. Ancient Scepticism (Paul Woodruff)
12. Epistemologies in Neoplatonism (Peter Lautner)
13. Roman Epistemology (Walter Englert)
Volume II: Knowledge in Medieval Philosophy
(ed.) Henrik Lagerlund
1. Avicenna on Knowledge: Deborah Black (University of Toronto)
2. Scientia in the 12th Century: Rafael Najera ( Brown University)
3. Averroes on Demonstration: Richard Taylor (Marquette University)
4. Grosseteste on Demonstration: John Longeway (formerly of University of Wisconsin, Parkside)
5. Aquinas on Knowledge and Demonstration: Alexander Hall (Clayton State University)
6. Henry of Ghent and John Duns Scotus on Knowledge
7. William Ockham on Knowledge
8. Nicholas of Autrecourt on Knowledge: Ghristophe Grellard (University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne - not yet confirmed)
9. John Buridan on Knowledge: Gyula Klima (Fordham University)
10. The Posterior Analytics after Buridan: Henrik Lagerlund (University of Western Ontario)
11. Suarez on Knowledge: Benjamin Hill (University of Western Ontario)
Volume III: Knowledge in Modern Philosophy
(ed.) Stephen Gaukroger
1. Bacon: Dana Jalobeanu
2. Hobbes and Gassendi: Antonia LoLordo and Stewart Duncan (University of Virginia)
3. Descartes: Anik Waldow (University of Sydney)
4. Spinoza: Aaron Garrett (Boston University)
5. Malebranche and Berkeley: Andrew Pyle
6. Leibniz: Justin Smith
7. Locke: Peter Anstey (University of Sydney)
8. Hume: Margaret Schabas (University of British Columbia)
9. Kant: John Zammito (Rice University)
10. German Idealism: Dean Moyar
11. German Philosophy between Hegel and Frege: Frederick Beiser (Syracuse University)
12. Whewell, Mill, and the Birth of the Philosophy of Science: Stephen Gaukroger (University of Sydney)
Volume IV: Knowledge in Contemporary Philosophy
(eds.) Stephen Hetherington and Markos Valaris
1. Pragmatism and Epistemology: Scott Aikin (Vanderbilt University)
2. On Our Epistemological Debt to Moore and Russell: Claudio de Almeida (PUCRS, Brazil)
3. What Knowledge Is Not: Reflections on Some Uses of the Verb 'To Know': Julia Tanney (independent scholar; formerly at University of Kent))
4. Naturalistic Descriptions of Knowledge: Kourken Michaelian (University of Otago)
5. Knowing the Unobservable: Confirmation and Theoretical Virtue: Stathis Psillos (University of Athens)
6. Social Knowledge and Social Norms: Peter J. Graham (University of California, Riverside)
7. Knowledge-How and Perceptual Learning: Berit Brogaard (University of Miami)
8. Self-Knowledge: Markos Valaris (University of New South Wales)
9. Knowledge as Contextual: Michael Blome-Tillmann (McGill University)
10. Knowledge and Probability: Weng Hong Tang (National University of Singapore)
11. Analysing the Concept of Knowledge: Duncan Pritchard (University of Edinburgh)
12. Conceiving of Knowledge in Modal Terms? Stephen Hetherington (University of New South Wales)
13. Knowledge and Normativity: Clayton Littlejohn (King's College London)
14. Intellectual Virtue and Knowledge: Heather Battaly (California State University, Fullerton)