The second edition of Jack Crumley's An Introduction to Epistemology strikes a balance between the many issues that engage contemporary epistemologists and the contributions of the major historical figures. He shows not only how philosophers such as Descartes, Hume, Locke, Berkeley, and Kant foreground the contemporary debates, but also why they deserve consideration on their own terms. This is an extensively revised and updated edition of An Introduction to Epistemology. More concise and user-friendly, the book provides an introduction to the central topics in epistemology. While it presents comprehensive accounts of contemporary issues, it also gives serious attention to historical views, such as in the chapters on perception and a priori knowledge. New to this edition is a chapter on feminist epistemology and the inclusion of evidentialism and contextualism. The book is appropriate for undergraduate students taking their first course in epistemology, as well as graduate students, and interested persons. Included are chapters on skepticism, the analysis of knowledge, reliabilism, foundationalism, coherentism, externalism and internalism, naturalized epistemology, feminist epistemology, a priori knowledge, and perception. Each chapter includes an accessible description of the motivation for various views and explanations of the important arguments and counter-arguments. Students are this led from simpler, more accessible introductions to the more detailed and complex. Covered in some detail are Alvin Goldman's version of reliabilism, Robert Audi on modest foundationalism, Keith Lehrer on coherentism, William Alston's view of justification, Ernest Sosa's virtue epistemology, W.V.O. Quine's naturalized epistemology, and Berkeley and Locke on perception, and Leibniz, Kant, and A. J. Ayer on a priori knowledge. The chapter on feminist epistemology looks at several views, including Helen Longino, Sandra Harding, Genevieve Lloyd, Louise Antony, Vrinda Dalmiya, and Linda Alcoff. New work is included on cutting edge topics in epistemology, such as contextualism and perceptual realism. This is the only epistemology text of this sort that contains an entire chapter devoted to feminist epistemology. – Contents : Preface to the First Edition; Preface to the Second Edition; Introduction; The Aims of Epistemology; Some Important Concepts; Tradition and Revision; Key Concepts. – Chapter 1. Skepticism; – 2. An Introduction to the Analysis of Knowledge; – 3. Reliabilism; – 4. Structure and Sources of Justification: Foundationalism; – 5. Structure and Sources of Justification: Coherence Theory; – 6. Externalism and Internalism; – 7. Naturalized Epistemology; – 8. Feminist Epistemology; – 9. A Priori Knowledge; – 10. Perception. – At the end of each chapter: Key Concepts; Review Questions; For Further Study. M.-M. V.

Cosmology is discussed in light of the current debate on scientific realism. First, some crucial arguments against scientific realism are put into a historical context. Then, it is sketched which light they cast on physical cosmology. Recent arguments of instrumentalism, empiricism, anti-fundamentalism, historicism, and internalism are taken up. The small empirical basis and the constructive aspects of cosmology are emphasised, in particular concerning the cosmological principle. It is argued that the current disunity of physics is unavoidable, making the project of quantum cosmology problematical, whereas principles of scientific realism such as truth-as-correspondence and unity are also indispensable. Finally, the paper raises the question of internalism. Is the God’s Eye View of the universe represented by a cosmological model tenable, given that any physical knowledge is perspectival ?

Cet article se donne deux objectifs : le premier est de comprendre la place de l’immunologie dans le débat internalisme-externalisme et de définir l’internalisme immunologique; le second est de montrer que les données de l’immunologie très contemporaine sont incompatibles avec la vision internaliste, si bien que non seulement l’immunologie ne peut plus être le socle de l’internalisme, mais qu’elle peut servir de fondement à une thèse différente (thèse intermédiaire qui tend vers l’externalisme), à savoir l’interactionnisme biologique, qui définit une influence réciproque dans laquelle l’organisme produit son environnement en même temps que l’environnement produit l’organisme.

This book explains the relationship between intelligence and environmental complexity, and in so doing links philosophy of mind to more general issues about the relations between organisms and environments, and to the general pattern of 'externalist' explanations. The author provides a biological approach to the investigation of mind and cognition in nature. In particular he explores the idea that the function of cognition is to enable agents to deal with environmental complexity. The history of the idea in the work of Dewey and Spencer is considered, as is the impact of recent evolutionary theory on our understanding of the place of mind in nature. – Contents : – Part I. Foundations: 1. Naturalism and teleology; 2. Externalism and internalism; 3. Spencer’s Version; 4. Dewey’s version; 5. On construction; 6. The question of correspondence; – Part II. Models: 7. Adaptive plasticity; 8. The signal detection model; 9. Complex individuals, complex populations. – Includes bibliographical references (p. 291-308) and index.