Skip to main content
Log in

The Knower Paradox and Epistemic Closure

  • Published:
Synthese Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Knower Paradox has had a brief but eventful history, and principles of epistemic closure (which say that a subject automatically knows any proposition she knows to be materially implied, or logically entailed, by a proposition she already knows) have been the subject of tremendous debate in epistemic logic and epistemology more generally, especially because the fate of standard arguments for and against skepticism seems to turn on the fate of closure. As far as I can tell, however, no one working in either area has emphasized the result I emphasize in this paper: the Knower Paradox just falsifies even the most widely accepted general principles of epistemic closure. After establishing that result, I discuss five of its more important consequences.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Alston, W. P.: 1989, ‘Justification and Knowledge’, Epistemic Justification: Essays in the Theory of Knowledge, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, pp. 172–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, C. A.: 1983, ‘The Paradox of the Knower’, Journal of Philosophy 80, 338–355.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, C. A.: 1992, ‘Paradox of the Knower’, in Jonathan Dancy and Ernest Sosa (eds.), A Companion to Epistemology, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 324–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Austin, J. L.: 1961, ‘Other Minds’, Philosophical Papers, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dretske, F.: 1968, ‘Reasons and Consequences’, Analysis 28, 166–168.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dretske, F.: 1970, ‘Epistemic Operators’, Journal of Philosophy 67, 1007–1023.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dretske, F.: 1971, ‘Conclusive Reasons’, Australasian Journal of Philosophy 49, 1–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, R.: 1995, ‘In Defence of Closure’, Philosophical Quarterly 45, 487–499.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein, L.: 1992, ‘“This Statement is Not True” is Not True’, Analysis 52, 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grim, P.: 1988, ‘Truth, Omniscience, and the Knower’, Philosophical Studies 54, 9–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haack, S.: 1978, Philosophy of Logics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hales, S. D.: 1995, ‘Epistemic Closure Principles’, Southern Journal of Philosophy 33, 185–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hintikka, J.: 1962, Knowledge and Belief, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, D. and R. Montague: 1960, ‘A Paradox Regained’, Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 1, 79–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, P.: 1995, ‘Skepticism and Closure: Why the Evil Genius Argument Fails’, Philosophical Topics 23, 213–236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luper-Foy, S. (ed.): 1987, The Possibility of Knowledge: Nozick and His Critics, Rowman and Littlefield, Totowa, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, G. E.: 1959, ‘Certainty’, Philosophical Papers, George Allen and Unwin, London, pp. 227–251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nozick, R.: 1981, Philosophical Explanations, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roth, M. and G. Ross (eds.): 1990, Doubting: Contemporary Perspectives on Skepticism, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stroud, B.: 1984, The Significance of Philosophical Scepticism, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Maitzen, S. The Knower Paradox and Epistemic Closure. Synthese 114, 337–354 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005064624642

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005064624642

Keywords

Navigation