The Practical Origins of Epistemic Contextualism

• Published in: Erkenntnis Vol. 78; no. 4; pp. 899 - 919
• Main Author: Hannon, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.08.2013; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ascriptions; Communities; Context; Contextualism; Education; Epistemological contextualism; Epistemology; Ethics; Intuition; Knowledge; Logic; Natural Language; Ontology; Original Article; Philosophical logics. Philosophy of language; Philosophy; Philosophy of Language; Skepticism; State of nature; Tailoring; Truth condition; Vehicular flight; Epistemic Standard; Epistemic Position; Knowledge Attribution; True Belief; Reliable Informant; Analytical Philosophy; Cognition
• ISSN: 0165-0106; 1572-8420
• DOI: 10.1007/s10670-012-9426-z

This paper explores how the purpose of the concept of knowledge affects knowledge ascriptions in natural language. I appeal to the idea that the role of the concept of knowledge is to flag reliable informants, and I use this idea to illuminate and support contextualism about 'knows'. I argue that practical pressures that arise in an epistemic state of nature provide an explanatory basis for a brand of contextualism that I call 'practical interests contextualism'. I also answer some questions that contextualism leaves open, particularly why the concept of knowledge is valuable, why the word 'knows' exhibits context-variability, and why this term enjoys such widespread use. Finally, I show how my contextualist framework accommodates plausible ideas from two rival views: subject-sensitive invariantism and insensitive invariantism. This provides new support for contextualism and develops this view in a way that improves our understanding of the concept of knowledge.