Reliable Knowledge and Social Epistemology: Essays on the Philosophy of Alvin Goldman and Replies by Goldman. (Grazer Philosophische Studien)

This special issue documents the results of a workshop on and with Alvin Goldman at the University of Düsseldorf in May, 2008. The topic was Reliable Knowledge and Social Epistemology. The volume contains the written versions of all papers given at the workshop, divided into five chapters and followed by Alvin Goldman’s replies in the sixth and final chapter. The contributions of the first chapter (E. Brendel, C. Jäger, and G. Schurz) address general questions of social epistemology, veritism and externalism, including critical reflections on Goldman's notion of 'weak knowledge'. The subsequent chapter (T. Grundmann and P. Baumann) examines problems which are involved in the search for an adequate explication of reliabilism. In the third chapter, E. Olsson, J. Horvath, C. Piller and M. Werning discuss Goldman and Olsson's account of the problem of the value of knowledge. In the fourth chapter (M. Baurmann & G. Brennan, and O. Scholz) two specific aspects of the social dimension of knowledge are investigated: the relation between knowledge and democracy as well as the definition and recognition of expertise. The fifth chapter (A. Newen & T. Schicht) discusses another part of Goldman’s cognitive epistemology, namely his simulation theory of mindreading. Goldman gives detailed replies to all parts of the papers in the final chapter. He thereby clarifies the many aspects of his philosophy and proposes amendments of earlier positions of his. Truth And Weak Knowledge In Goldman's Veritistic Social Epistemology / Elke Brendel -- Why To Believe Weakly In Weak Knowledge : Goldman On Knowledge As Mere True Believe / Christoph Jager -- Meliorative Reliabilist Epistemology : Where Externalism And Internalism Meet / Gerhard Schurz -- Reliabilism And The Problem Of Defeaters / Thomas Grundmann -- Reliabilism : Modal, Probabilistic Or Contextualist / Peter Baumann -- In Defense Of The Conditional Probability Solution To The Swamping Problem / Erik J. Olsson -- Why The Conditional Probability Solution To The Swamping Problem Fails / Joachim Horvath -- Reliabilist Responses To The Value Of Knowledge Problem / Christian Piller -- The Evolutionary And Social Preference For Knowledge : How To Solve Meno's Problem Within Reliabilism / Markus Werning -- What Should The Voter Know? : Epistemic Trust In Democracy / Michael Baurmann, Geoffrey Brennan -- Experts : What They Are And How We Recognize Them -- A Discussion Of Alvin Goldman's Views / Oliver R. Scholz -- Understanding Other Minds : A Criticism Of Goldman's Simulation Theory And An Outline Of The Person Model Theory / Albert Newen, Tobias Schlicht -- Replies To Dicussants / Alvin I. Goldman. Edited By Gerhard Schurz & Markus Werning. Includes Bibliographical References.