Pre-conditions of knowledge 1

pp. 62-83

in: Jan Srzednicki, To know or not to know, Berlin, Springer, 1995

Abstract

To attack the problem at the root of the possibility of knowledge directly we start by considering again the role of such a doctrine as the Kantian doctrine of "two sources", or Spinoza's "monism", or Quine's "holistic relativism". The question now being whether we need such a theory. After all we have no difficulty communicating and making sense. We use our knowledge in a satisfactory manner for all practical purposes. Whoa! — that lands us in Pragmatism, and Pragmatism is a basic epistemological hypothesis of the very type that we are trying to abandon.