Fear of knowledge : against relativism and constructivism / Paul Boghossian.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boghossian, Paul A. (Paul Artin), 1957-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Knowledge, Theory of.

Objectivity.

Physical Description:

139 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Clarendon Press ; Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.

Summary:

Relativist and constructivist conceptions of truth and knowledge have become orthodoxy in vast stretches of the academic world in recent times. In his long-awaited first book, Paul Boghossian critically examines such views and exposes their fundamental flaws.

Boghossian focuses on three different ways of reading the claim that knowledge is socially constructed-one as a thesis about truth and two about justification. And he rejects all three. The intuitive, common-sense view is that there is a way the world is that is independent of human opinion; and that we are capable of arriving at beliefs about how it is that are objectively reasonable, binding on anyone capable of appreciating the relevant evidence regardless of their social or cultural perspective. Difficult as these notions may be, it is a mistake to think that philosophy has uncovered powerful reasons for rejecting them.

This short, lucid, witty book shows that philosophy provides rocksolid support for common sense against the relativists. It will prove provocative reading throughout the discipline and beyond.

Contents:

2 The Social Construction of Knowledge 10

3 Constructing the Facts 25

4 Relativizing the Facts 42

5 Epistemic Relativism Defended 58

6 Epistemic Relativism Rejected 81

7 The Paradox Resolved 95

8 Epistemic Reasons and the Explanation of Belief 111.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [132]-135) and index.

ISBN:

019928718X

OCLC:

61176460

Publisher Number:

9780199187185 (hbk.)