How and why knowledge is first

Book chapter


Littlejohn, Clayton. (2017). How and why knowledge is first. In Knowledge first : Approaches in epistemology and mind pp. 19-45 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198716310.003.0002
AuthorsLittlejohn, Clayton
Abstract

This chapter’s dialectical aim has, as its focus, a sustained defence of the claim that one cannot have a reason in one’s possession unless it is something that one knows. This view is claimed to have advantages over a different way of thinking about epistemic status. On the ‘reasons-first’ approach to epistemic status, reasons and the possession of them are prior to epistemic status. In reversing this picture, the chapter reveals an important sense in which knowledge comes first—namely, in that we first come to have reasons in our possession by coming to know that certain things are true; there is nothing prior to knowledge that puts these reasons in our possession. In the course of advancing this picture, the chapter furthermore offers a defence of Williamson’s identification of evidence and knowledge (E=K).

Keywordsknowledge; evidence; knowledge-first epistemology; perception; reasons; internalism/externalism; value of knowledge
Page range19-45
Year2017
Book titleKnowledge first : Approaches in epistemology and mind
PublisherOxford University Press
Place of publicationOxford, United Kingdom
ISBN9780198716310
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198716310.003.0002
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85049624369
Open accessPublished as green open access
Author's accepted manuscript
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All rights reserved
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Open
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Output statusPublished
Publication dates
OnlineDec 2017
Print2017
Publication process dates
Deposited26 May 2022
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