For Quine, as for many canonical philosophers since Descartes, epistemology stands at the very center of philosophy. Indeed, at the outset of “The Nature of Natural Knowledge”, Quine writes of “those of us who look upon philosophy primarily as the theory of knowledge” (1975:67). In this chapter, I discuss some central themes in Quine’s epistemology. I attempt to provide some historical context ...

This article uses recent work in philosophy of science and social epistemology to argue for a shift analytic religion from knowledge-centric an centered on understanding. Not only can understanding-centered approach open up new avenues the exploration largely neglected aspects religious life, it also shed light how participation might be epistemically valuable ways that knowledge-centered appro...

Though critics of traditional epistemology agree that we need to account for the role that social factors play in inquiry, developing a viable social epistemology has proved to be difficult. According to Helen Longino, it is the processes that make inquiry possible that are social, for they require a number of people to sustain them. These processes facilitate inquiry, and ensure that the resul...

Standard epistemology takes it for granted that there is a special kind of value: epistemic value. This claim does not seem to sit well with act utilitarianism, however, since it holds that only welfare is of real value. I first develop a particularly utilitarian sense of “epistemic value”, according to which it is closely analogous to the nature of financial value. I then demonstrate the promi...