The simplest questions are never so simple. “What is knowledge?” has been pondered for millennia – and continues to engage the most brilliant philosophical minds.

With all central topics in the field included – skepticism, the definition and structure of knowledge, the nature of epistemic justification, and many more – Epistemology: An Anthologycontinues to represent the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of canonical readings in the theory of knowledge. In addition to including all-new sections on Epistemic Closure and Testimony, Memory, and Perception; the editors have updated many of the sections from the first edition by adding new selections on the value of knowledge, sensitive invariantism, and epistemic relativism among other topics.

Striking an excellent balance between traditional theories and cutting edge contemporary methodologies, Epistemology: An Anthologyis an essential compendium for all philosophers concerned with the latest developments in the theory of knowledge.

“This carefully conceived collection puts together the key articles in a comprehensive range of topics. With a restructured table of contents and many new articles, the second edition supplies the reader with the full range of recent, cutting edge, developments. An ideal text for teaching contemporary epistemology, it will prove to be an indispensable volume.”

Matthias Steup, St Cloud State University

“This excellent anthology contains outstanding papers written on both traditional and cutting edge issues in epistemology. Every major topic and every major approach to those topics is covered through selections representing many of the most influential figures in contemporary analytic epistemology. It is without doubt the best text of its kind.”

Richard Fumerton, University of Iowa

This volume is an extensive collection of canonical readings in the theory of knowledge. Concentrating on the central topics of the field, it includes many of the most important contributions made in the 20th century.

New and thoroughly updated, Epistemology: An Anthologycontinues to represent the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of canonical readings in the theory of knowledge.

• Concentrates on the central topics of the field, such as skepticism and the Pyrrhonian problematic, the definition of knowledge, and the structure of epistemic justification

• Offers coverage of more specific topics, such as foundationalism vs coherentism, and virtue epistemology

• Presents wholly new sections on 'Testimony, Memory, and Perception' and 'The Value of Knowledge'

• Features modified sections on 'The Structure of Knowledge and Justification', 'The Non-Epistemic in Epistemology', and 'The Nature of the Epistemic'

• Includes many of the most important contributions made in recent decades by several outstanding authors

This volume represents the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of canonical readings in theory of knowledge. It is ideal as a reader for all courses in epistemology.

Ernest Sosais Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University. He is the author of Knowledge in Perspective(1991) and A Virtue Epistemology(2007), and co-editor (with John Greco) of The Blackwell Guide to Epistemology(1999) and other texts.

Jaegwon Kimhas taught at Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Michigan. He is currently the William Perry Faunce Professor of Philosophy at Brown University. He has authored and edited several philosophical texts, including Supervenience and the Mind(1993) and Physicalism, or Something Near Enough(2005).

Jeremy Fantlis Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Calgary. He and Matthew McGrath are writing a book entitled Pragmatic Encroachment in Epistemology.

Matthew McGrathis Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is the author of Between Deflationism and the Correspondence Theory(2000) and is co-authoring Pragmatic Encroachment in Epistemologywith Jeremy Fantl.

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

Part I: Skepticism.

1. The Problem of the External World. B. Stroud.

2. Proof of an External World. G. E. Moore.

3. Four Forms of Scepticism. G. E. Moore.

4. Certainty. G. E. Moore.

5. Skepticism, Naturalism, and Transcendental Arguments. P. F. Strawson.

6. An Argument for Skepticism. Peter Unger.

Part II: Defining Knowledge.

7. Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?. Edmund Gettier.

8. A Proposed Definition of Propositional Knowledge. Peter Klein.

9. Selections from Thought. (Knowledge and Probability, Knowledge and Explanation, Evidence One Does Not Possess). Gilbert Harman.

10. Philosophical Explanations. Robert Nozick.

Part III: Contemporary Foundationalism and Coherentism.

11. The Myth of the Given. Roderick M. Chisholm.

12. Does Empirical Knowledge Have a Foundation?. Wilfrid Sellars.

13. Epistemic Principles. Wilfrid Sellars.

14. The Raft and the Pyramid. Ernest Sosa.

15. A Coherence Theory of Truth and Knowledge. Donald Davidson.

Part IV: Epistemic Justification.

16. Evidentialism: Richard Feldman and Earl Conee.

17. Skepticism and Rationality. Richard Foley.

18. Epistemic Norms. John Pollock.

19. Foundherentism. Susan Haack.

Part V: The Pyrrhonian Problematic.

20. Foundationalism, Epistemic Principles, and the Cartesian Circle. James Van Cleve.

21. Can Empirical Knowledge Have a Foundation?. Laurence Bonjour.

22. Reflective Knowledge in the Best Circles. Ernest Sosa.

Part VI: Epistemology Naturalized.

23. Epistemology Naturalized. W. V. Quine.

24. What Is Naturalized Epistemology?. Jaegwon Kim.

25. Why Reason Cannot Be Naturalized. Hilary Putnam.

26. The Old Skepticism, the New Foundationalism, and Naturalized Epistemology. Robert Audi.

Part VII: Epistemic Externalism.

27. What is Justified Belief?. Alvin I. Goldman.

28. How to Think about Reliability. William P. Alston.

29. The Generality Problem for Reliabilism. Earl Conee and Richard Feldman.

30. Externalism and Epistemology Naturalized. Keith Lehrer.

31. Externalism and Skepticism. Richard Fumerton.

32. Knowledge and the Internal. John McDowell.

33. Knowledge and the Social Articulation of the Space of Reasons. Robert Brandom.

Part VIII: Virtue Epistemology and Proper Cognitive Functioning.

34. Epistemic Folkways and Scientific Epistemology. Alvin I. Goldman.

35. Warrant: A First Approximation. Alvin Plantinga.

36. Virtues of the Mind. Linda Zagzebski.

37. Virtues and Vices of Virtue Epistemology. John Greco.

Part IX: Epistemic Contextualism.

38. Solving the Skeptical Problem. Keith DeRose.

39. Elusive Knowledge. David Lewis.

40. Contextualist Solutions to Epistemological Problems: Skepticism, Gettier, and the Lottery. Stewart Cohen.

Part X: Relativism.

41. Epistemological Realism. Michael Williams.

42. Justification, Meta-Epistemology, and Meaning. Paul Moser.

43. Reflective Equilibrium, Analytic Epistemology, and the Problem of Cognitive Diversity. Stephen Stich.

Bibliography