referencebooks (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} referencebooks) wrote,@ 2005-12-19 13:12:00 |
|
| Entry tags: | philosophy |
The Oxford Handbook of Epistemology
The Oxford Handbook of Epistemology
Edited by Paul Moser.
Published by Oxford University Press, 2002.
This is a 7" by 10" hardbound book running to 595 pages including the bibliography and index, plus a preface, list of contributors, and an introduction.
From the preface:
In the concept-sensitive hands of philosophers, epistemology focuses on the nature, origin, and scope of knowledge. It thus examines the defining ingredients, the sources, the limits of knowledge. Given the central role of epistemology in the history of philosophy as well as in contemporary philosophy, epistemologists will always have work to do. Debates over the analysis of knowledge, the sources of knowledge, and the status of skepticism will alone keep the discipline of epistemology active and productive. This book presents some of the best work in contemporary epistemology by leading epistemologists. Taken together, its previously unpublished essays span the whole field of epistemology. They assess prominent positions and break new theoretical ground while avoiding undue technicality.
As a handbook, the book aims to cover the territory of epistemology in broad-reaching, longish essays. There are nineteen of them in the book, written by different philosophers who have differing points of view on questions of epistemology but who make an effort to be fair to other major currents in their areas of specialization. The nineteen chapters are:
- Conditions and Analyses of Knowing
- The Sources of Knowledge
- A Priori Knowledge
- The Sciences and Epistemology
- Conceptual Diversity in Epistemology
- Theories and Justification
- Internalism and Externalism
- Tracking, Competence, and Knowledge
- Virtues in Epistemology
- Mind and Knowledge
- Skepticism
- Epistemological Duties
- Scientific Knowledge
- Explanation and Epistemology
- Decision Theory and Epistemology
- Embodiment and Epistemology
- Epistemology and Ethics
- Epistemology in Philosophy of Religion
- Formal Problems about Knowledge.
The articles are written in the analytic mode of Anglo-American philosophy. They're quite clearly written, so long as you're someone who is comfortable with philosophical literature. (While they don't have a whole lot of technical jargon, they're highly focused in the style of a philosophical texts.)
Each article finishes with a useful set of references to the philosophical literature. The bibliography at the end is also very useful for students wanting to read more about epistemology.
This is a nice book, but readers should be aware of its firm placement in the Anglo-American philosophical tradition and the consequent lack of coverage of ideas from continental and non-Western philosophy.
