Social Epistemology: Essential Readings

Front Cover
Alvin Goldman, Dennis Whitcomb
Oxford University Press, Feb 11, 2011 - Philosophy - 368 pages
What if anything justifies us in believing the testimony of others? How should we react to disagreement between ourselves and our peers, and to disagreement among the experts when we ourselves are novices? Can beliefs be held by groups of people in addition to the people composing those groups? And if so, how should groups go about forming their beliefs? How should we design social systems, such as legal juries and scientific research-sharing schemes, to promote knowledge among the people who engage in them? When different groups of people judge different beliefs to be justified, how can we tell which groups are correct? These questions are at the heart of the vital discipline of social epistemology. The classic articles in this volume address these questions in ways that are both cutting-edge and easy to understand. This volume will be of great interest to scholars and students in epistemology.
 

Contents

Introduction
3
I CONCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL EPISTEMOLOGY
9
II TRUST IN TESTIMONY AND EXPERTS
69
III REASONABLE PEER DISAGREEMENT
135
IV JUDGMENT AGGREGATION
219
V SYSTEMS DESIGN
269
Index
351
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About the author (2011)

Alvin Goldman is Board of Governors Professor, Department of Philosophy and Center for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University. Dennis Whitcomb is Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Western Washington University

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