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Overview
In this impressive second edition of Theory of Knowledge, Keith Lehrer introduces students to the major traditional and contemporary accounts of knowing. Beginning with the traditional definition of knowledge as justified true belief, Lehrer explores the truth, belief, and justification conditions on the way to a thorough examination of foundation theories of knowledge,the work of Platinga, externalism and naturalized epistemologies, internalism and modern coherence theories, contextualism, and recent reliabilist and causal theories. Lehrer gives all views careful examination and concludes that external factors must be matched by appropriate internal factors to yield knowledge. This match of internal and external factors follows from Lehrer’s new coherence theory of undefeated justification. In addition to doing justice to the living epistemological traditions, the text smoothly integrates several new lines that will interest scholars. Also, a feature of special interest is Lehrer’s concept of a justification game.This second edition of Theory of Knowledge is a thoroughly revised and updated version that contains several completely new chapters. Written by a well-known scholar and contributor to modern epistemology, this text is distinguished by clarity of structure, accessible writing, and an elegant mix of traditional material, contemporary ideas, and well-motivated innovation.Synopsis
In this impressive new edition, Keith Lehrer introduces students to the major traditional and contemporary accounts of knowing. Beginning with the traditional definition of knowledge as justified true belief, Lehrer explores the truth, belief, and justification conditions on the way to a thorough examination of foundationalism and modern coherence theories, the work of Platinga, contextualism, and recent reliabilist and causal theories. The text also smoothly integrates several new lines that will interest scholars, including a new account of the author’s coherence theory of undefeated justification. A special feature is Lehrer’s notion of a justification game played between a knowledge claimant and a skeptic, with the justification of the claim in the balance. Distinguished by clarity of structure, accessible writing, and an elegant mix of traditional material, contemporary ideas, and well-motivated innovation, this book will immediately take its place in the front rank of texts on the theory of knowledge.
Booknews
Beginning with a traditional definition of knowledge, Lehrer (philosophy, U. of Arizona) moves on to examinations of truth, belief, and justification, incorporating historical and contemporary theories such as contextualism and foundationalism, as well as reliabilist and causal theories. Lehrer also presents his own coherence theory of undefeated justification. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)