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In this book William G. Lycan offers an epistemology of philosophy itself, a partial method for philosophical inquiry. The epistemology features three ultimate sources of justified philosophical belief. First, common sense, in a carefully restricted sense of the term-the sorts of contingent propositions Moore defended against idealists and skeptics. Second, the deliverances of well confirmed science. Third and more fundamentally, intuitions about cases in a carefully specified sense of that term.
The first half of On Evidence in Philosophy expounds a version of Moore's method and applies it to each of several issues. This version is shown to resist all the standard objections to Moore; most of them do not even apply. It is argued, in Chapters 5 and 6, that philosophical method is far less powerful than most have taken it to be. In particular, deductive argument can accomplish very little, and hardly ever is an opposing position refuted except by common sense or by science. The final two chapters defend the evidential status of intuitions and the Goodmanian method of reflective equilibrium; it is argued that philosophy always and everywhere depends on them. The method is then set within a more general explanatory-coherentist epistemology, which is shown to resist standard forms of skepticism.
In sum, William G. Lycan advocates a picture of philosophy as a very wide explanatory reflective equilibrium incorporating common sense, science, and our firmest intuitions on any topic-and nothing more, not ever.
List of contents
- Introduction
- 1: A Version of Moore's Method
- 2: Moore against the New Skeptics
- 3: A Novel Refutation of Eliminative Materialism
- 4: Free Will and the Burden of Proof
- 5: The Poverty of Philosophical Method (a Case Study)
- 6: Philosophical Knowledge
- 7: The Evidential Status of Intuitions
- 8: Intuitions and Coherentism
- Conclusion
About the author
William G. Lycan is William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of North Carolina and currently Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Connecticut. He is author of Logical Form in Natural Language (1984), Knowing Who (with Steven Boër, 1986), Consciousness (1987), Judgement and Justification (1988), Modality and Meaning (1994), Consciousness and Experience (1996), Philosophy of Language: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge 1999), and Real Conditionals (Oxford 2001).
Summary
William G. Lycan offers an epistemology of philosophy itself, a partial method for philosophical inquiry. In sum, he advocates a picture of philosophy as a very wide explanatory reflective equilibrium incorporating common sense, science, and our firmest intuitions on any topic.
Additional text
William G. Lycan has written a short but action-packed book about why philosophical arguments don't establish skeptical or radically revisionary claims concerning the nature of reality or our capacities as knowers and agents. A terrific volume, it is sure to annoy or maybe even infuriate many philosophers who think highly of their own arguments. . . . Here is a philosopher who is deeply reflective, self-critical, and able to impart insights with concision and wit. I recommend the book to all philosophers interested in methodology, skepticism, and knowledge.
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William G. Lycan has written a short but action-packed book about why philosophical arguments don't establish skeptical or radically revisionary claims concerning the nature of reality or our capacities as knowers and agents. A terrific volume, it is sure to annoy or maybe even infuriate many philosophers who think highly of their own arguments. . . . Here is a philosopher who is deeply reflective, self-critical, and able to impart insights with concision and wit. I recommend the book to all philosophers interested in methodology, skepticism, and knowledge. Nathan Ballantyne, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
