Abstract
This paper examines Laurence BonJour's defense of internalism inThe Structure of Empirical Knowledge with an eye toward better understanding the issues which separate internalists from externalists. It is argued that BonJour's Doxastic Presumption cannot play the role which is required of it to make his internalism work. It is further argued that BonJour's internalism, and, indeed, all other internalisms, are motivated by a Cartesian view of an agent's access to her own mental states. This Caretsian view is argued to be untenable, and, accordingly, so is internalism.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
BonJour, Laurence: 1985,The Structure of Empirical Justification, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Kornblith, Hilary: 1983, ‘Justified Belief and Epistemically Responsible Action’,Philosophical Review 92, 33–48.
Kornblith, Hilary: 1985, ‘Ever Since Descartes’,The Monist 68, 264–76.
Kornblith, Hilary: 1986, ‘Naturalizing Rationality’, in P. Hare and N. Garver (eds.),Naturalism and Rationality, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, pp. 115–33.
Kornblith, Hilary: (in preparation a), ‘Introspection and Misdirection’.
Kornblith, Hilary: (in preparation b),Psychologism: An Essay in Inferential Apologetics.
Malcolm, Norman: 1963,Knowledge and Certainty, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.
Nisbett, Richard and Lee Ross: 1980,Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Nisbett, Richard and Timothy Wilson: 1977, ‘Telling More Than We Can Know: Verbal Reports on Mental Processes’,Psychological Review 84, 231–59.
Quine, W. V. O.: 1969,Ontological Relativity and Other Essays, Columbia University Press, New York.
Shoemaker, Sydney: 1963,Self-Knowledge and Self-Identity, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.
Stroud, Barry: 1968, ‘Transcendental Arguments’,Journal of Philosophy 65, 241–56.
Wilson, Timothy: ‘Self-Deception Without Repression: Limits on Access to Mental States’, in Mike Martin (ed.),Self-Deception and Self-Understanding, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, pp. 95–116.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kornblith, H. How internal can you get?. Synthese 74, 313–327 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00869633
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00869633