Skepticism, Information, and Closure: Dretske’s Theory of Knowledge

Erkenntnis 61 (2-3):187 - 201 (2004)
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Abstract

According to Fred Dretske's externalist theory of knowledge a subject knows that p if and only if she believes that p and this belief is caused or causally sustained by the information that p. Another famous feature of Dretske's epistemology is his denial that knowledge is closed under known entailment. I argue that, given Dretske's construal of information, he is in fact committed to the view that both information and knowledge are closed under known entailment. Hence, if it is true that, as Dretske also believes, accepting closure leads to skepticism, he must either embrace skepticism or abandon his information theory of knowledge.

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Is Knowledge Closed Under Known Entailment? The Case Against Closure.Fred Dretske - 2013 - In Matthias Steup & John Turri (eds.), Contemporary Debates in Epistemology. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Blackwell. pp. 13-26.
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Christoph Jäger
University of Innsbruck

Citations of this work

Dretske on knowledge closure.Steven Luper - 2006 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 84 (3):379 – 394.
Shutting dretske’s door.Nicholas Shackel - 2006 - Erkenntnis 64 (3):393-401.

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References found in this work

Elusive knowledge.David K. Lewis - 1996 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 74 (4):549 – 567.
Knowledge and the flow of information.F. Dretske - 1989 - Trans/Form/Ação 12:133-139.
Solving the skeptical problem.Keith DeRose - 1995 - Philosophical Review 104 (1):1-52.
Epistemic operators.Fred I. Dretske - 1970 - Journal of Philosophy 67 (24):1007-1023.

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