Jonathan Jenkins Ichikawa

Benjamin W. Jarvis

Ichikawa and Jarvis offer a new rationalist theory of mental content and defend a traditional epistemology of philosophy. They argue that philosophical inquiry is continuous with non-philosophical inquiry, and can be genuinely a priori, and that intuitions do not play an important role in mental content or the a priori.

The Rules of Thought

"Jonathan Ichikawa develops a contextualist semantics for knowledge ascriptions, and shows how it can illuminate foundational questions in epistemology. He argues that in thinking clearly about knowledge, epistemologists must also think about the dynamic aspects of the words we use to talk about knowledge. Contextualising Knowledge defends a central theoretical role for knowledge in broader theorising - evidence, belief, justification, and assertion are all explained in part in terms of knowledge - but none of these connections can properly be understood or appreciated independently from the contextualist approach to knowledge ascriptions. The book synthesizes two of the biggest ideas in contemporary epistemology: contextualism about knowledge ascriptions, and the 'knowledge first' emphasis on the theoretical primacy of knowledge. Ichikawa argues that the apparent tension between these ideas can be resolved-indeed, a central theme of the book is that each has something important to offer the other. Ichikawa embraces contextualism, emphasizing careful attention to its epistemic assumptions and implications. The result is a novel take on central questions about knowledge and its roles in human life and discourse."--Back cover.

Epistemology and Semantics

Contextualising Knowledge

Epistemic contextualism is a recent and hotly debated topic in philosophy. Contextualists argue that the language we use to attribute knowledge can only be properly understood relative to a specified context. How much can our knowledge depend on context? Is there a limit, and if so, where does it lie? What is the relationship between epistemic contextualism and fundamental topics in philosophy such as objectivity, truth, and relativism? The Routledge Handbook of Epistemic Contextualism is an outstanding reference source to the key topics, problems, and debates in this exciting subject and is the first collection of its kind. Comprising thirty-seven chapters by a team of international contributors the Handbook is divided into eight parts: Data and motivations for contextualism Methodological issues Epistemological implications Doing without contextualism Relativism and disagreement Semantic implementations Contextualism outside ‘knows’ Foundational linguistic issues. Within these sections central issues, debates and problems are examined, including contextualism and thought experiments and paradoxes such as the Gettier problem and the lottery paradox; semantics and pragmatics; the relationship between contextualism, relativism, and disagreement; and contextualism about related topics like ethical judgments and modality. The Routledge Handbook of Epistemic Contextualism is essential reading for students and researchers in epistemology and philosophy of language. It will also be very useful for those in related fields such as linguistics and philosophy of mind.

Jonathan Jenkins Ichikawa

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