Perception and reason / Bill Brewer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brewer, Bill, Dr.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Knowledge, Theory of.

Perception (Philosophy).

Experience.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (300 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1999.

Summary:

Bill Brewer sets out an original view of the role of conscious experience in the acquisition of knowledge. He argues that experiences must provide reasons for beliefs if there are to be any beliefs about the mind-independent world at all: experiences are essential to a person's grasping certain thoughts about the world, and simply grasping these provides him with a reason to believe that the world is as he thereby thinks it is.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Introduction

PART I. PERCEPTUAL EXPERIENCES PROVIDE REASONS

1 Historical-Epistemological Context

2 Belief and Experience

2.1 Preliminaries

2.2 The Strawson Argument

2.3 Refinements

3 Experience and Reason

3.1 The Switching Argument

3.2 Knowledge by Description

3.3 Conceptual Redeployment

3.4 Natural Kinds and Proper Names

3.5 Are There Unitary Concepts of Mind-Independent Things?

4 Epistemological Consequences and Criticisms

4.1 Reliabilism

4.2 Classical Foundationalism

4.3 Classical Coherentism

4.4 Conclusion

PART II. THE RATIONAL ROLE OF PERCEPTUAL EXPERIENCES

5 Reasons Require Conceptual Contents

5.1 The Basic Argument

5.2 Possible Counterexamples

5.3 Non-Conceptual Experiential Content Is Unmotivated

6 The Rational Role of Perceptual Experiences

6.1 Objective Demonstratives

6.2 Epistemic Openness

6.3 Clarifications

7 The Epistemological Outlook

7.1 Foundationalism and Coherentism

7.2 Imagination

7.3 Error and Scepticism

7.4 Further Objections

8 Developments and Consequences

8.1 Non-Demonstrative Perceptual Knowledge

8.2 Russell's Principle of Acquaintance

8.3 Externalism and A Priori Knowledge

Bibliography

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [269]-276) and index.

Description based on metadata supplied by the publisher and other sources.

ISBN:

1-281-97036-0

9786611970369

0-19-151896-4

OCLC:

57378039