Knowledge in Contemporary Philosophy

To know epistemology's history is to know better what contemporary epistemology could be and perhaps should be - and what it need not be and perhaps ought not to be. Knowledge in Contemporary Philosophy introduces many of the more developed ideas, issues, and theories from this past century of epistemological reflection. By doing so it captures the current concerns of one of Western philosophy's greatest challenges: understanding the nature of knowledge. Covering recent discussions about scientific, social and self-knowledge and attempts to understand knowledge naturalistically, contextually and normatively, it follows conceptions of knowledge that have been proposed, defended, replaced, and proposed anew by major contemporary philosophers. With original insights into the vast sweep of ways in which philosophers have sought to understand knowledge, Knowledge in Contemporary Philosophy reveals what is vital and evolving within epistemology over the last 100 years.