Annotated Bibliography of Contemporary Epistemology

prepared for EpistemeLinks by Keith Korcz (PhD, Ohio State University), Assistant Professor of Philosophy at University of Louisiana at Lafayette

I need just one book on contemporary epistemology

Paul K. Moser, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Epistemology, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2005)
–containing essays by many of the leading figures in the field, this tends to be a bit more detailed that your average introductory textbook, yet is reasonably accessible to non-specialists.

What reference books are there for contemporary epistemology?

I only know of two:

• Jonathan Dancy and Ernest Sosa, ed.s, A Companion to Epistemology, (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1992).
  –250 articles on various issues and figures with brief bibliographies for each article
• James H. Fetzer and Robert F. Almeder, Glossary of Epistemology/Philosophy of Science, (New York, NY: Paragon House, 1993).
  –a dictionary type work with no bibliographies

What are arguably the ten most widely discussed papers in epistemology since 1963?

1. Edmund Gettier, "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?", Analysis, (1963), pp. 121-123.
2. Keith Lehrer and Thomas D. Paxson, Jr., "Knowledge: Undefeated Justified True Belief", The Journal of Philosophy, 66.8 (1969), pp. 225-237.
3. Fred Dretske , "Epistemic Operators", Journal of Philosophy, December 1970, pp. 1007-1023.
4. Alvin Goldman, "Discrimination and Perceptual Knowledge", The Journal of Philosophy, 73.20 (1976), pp. 771-791.
5. Laurence BonJour, "Can Empirical Knowledge Have a Foundation?" American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 15 (1978), pp. 1-14.
6. Alvin Goldman, "What Is Justified Belief?", Justification and Knowledge, ed. George S. Pappas, (Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1979), pp. 1-23.
7. Laurence BonJour, "Externalist Theories of Empirical Knowledge," Midwest Studies in Philosophy, vol. 5 (1980), pp. 53-73.
8. Stewart Cohen, "How to be a Fallibilist", Philosophical Perspectives, 2, Epistemology, ed. James Tomberlin, (1988), pp. 581-605.
9. William Alston, "The Deontological Conception of Epistemic Justification", Philosophical Perspectives, 2, Epistemology, ed. James Tomberlin, (1988), pp. 257-299.
10. Keith DeRose, "Solving the Skeptical Problem", Philosophical Review, 104 (1) January 2005, pp. 1-52.

Contemporary Epistemology Core Library:

Note: This portion of the bibliography is designed merely to introduce issues and some of the key literature in contemporary epistemology. It is not designed to include everything one might wish to read on a topic. As such, it is far from complete. I have included review articles devoted to a topic whenever available as they tend to provide useful surveys of issues and contain useful bibliographies with which one might begin to explore a topic. Generally, no annotations are provided for the review articles. I have also included a handful of the classic discussions of each topic.

General:

Roderick Chisholm, Theory of Knowledge, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966).
– a classic statement of contemporary internalist foundationalism

Susan Haack, "Recent Obituaries of Epistemology," American Philosophical Quarterly, July 1990, pp. 199-212.
– critiques Rorty's and Churchland's attacks on epistemology

James Pryor, Highlights of Recent Epistemology," British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, vol. 52, no. 1, March 2001, pp. 95-124.

Ernest Sosa and Jaegwon Kim, ed.s, Epistemology: An Anthology, (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000).
– one of the best of the several excellent recent epistemology anthologies available

Matthias Steup and Ernest Sosa, ed.s, Contemporary Debates in Epistemology, (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005).
– many major epistemologists square off, debating eleven different issues in contemporary epistemology –- a nice place to start getting into some issues

Matthias Steup, ed., Knowledge, Truth and Duty: Essays on Epistemic Justification, Responsibility, and Virtue, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001).
– three reprints and eleven originals, covers six topics with a couple of papers on each topic, most by major figures in the field –- offers a kind of survey of various issues with articles you can really sink your teeth into

A Priori Knowledge:

Paul Boghossian and Christopher Peacocke, ed.s, New Essays on the A Priori, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000).
– a collection of new essays

Albert Casullo, A Priori Justification, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003).
– widely discussed book on the subject

Paul K. Moser, ed., A Priori Knowledge, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1987).
– contains a number of classic articles

Basing Relation:

Keith Allen Korcz, "Recent Work on the Basing Relation," American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 2, April 1997, pp. 171-191.

Coherentism:

Laurence BonJour, The Structure of Empirical Knowledge, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985).
– a sustained defense of a form of coherentism and widely discussed critique of externalism

Donald Davidson, "A Coherence Theory of Truth and Knowledge," Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective, ed. by Donald Davidson, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001/1983).
– widely discussed proposal for a coherentist theory

Keith Lehrer, Theory of Knowledge, Second Ed., (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000).
– a general introduction to epistemology that defends a sophisticated form of coherentism

Wilfrid Sellars, "Does Empirical Knowledge Have a Foundation?", Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997/1956).
– classic attack on the given

James van Cleve, "Epistemic Supervenience and the Circle of Belief," The Monist, vol. 68, no. 1, 1985, pp. 90-104.
– influential critique of Sellars' argument

Foundationalism

Laurence BonJour, "Can Empirical Knowledge Have a Foundation?" American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 15 (1978), pp. 1-14.
– widely discussed critique of foundationalism

C. I. Lewis, An Analysis of Knowledge and Valuation, (LaSalle, IL: Open Court, 1962/1946).
– the last major version of infallibilist foundationalism before the turn to fallibilism

Timm Triplett, "Recent Work on Foundationalism," American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 2, April 1990, pp. 93-116.

Michael DePaul, ed., Resurrecting Old-Fashioned Foundationalism, (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001).
– essays by Fumerton and BonJour with replies

The Gettier Problem:

Edmund Gettier, "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?", Analysis, (1963), pp. 121-123.
– the paper that started it all

Keith Lehrer and Thomas D. Paxson, Jr., "Knowledge: Undefeated Justified True Belief", The Journal of Philosophy, 66.8 (1969), pp. 225-237.
– a seminal paper trying to handle defeater-defeaters

William G. Lycan, "On the Gettier Problem problem," Epistemology Futures, ed. by Stephen Hetherington, (New York, NY: Oxford University press, 2006).
– critically reviews various solutions proposed to the problem from about 1990 through the very early 21^st century

Robert K. Shope, The Analysis of Knowing: A Decade of Research, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983)
– thoroughly summarizes discussion of the Gettier Problem through the early 1980s

Internalism and Externalism

William Alston, Epistemic Justification: Essays in the Theory of Knowledge, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989).
– collection of widely discussed papers, including the one listed in the "Ten Most Widely Discussed..." list above

Richard Feldman and Earl Conee, Evidentialism, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004).
– collection of widely discussed articles, defends internalism and critiques externalism

Richard Foley, The Theory of Epistemic Rationality, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987).
– offers a much discussed theory of justification

Hilary Kornblith, ed., Epistemology: Internalism and Externalism, (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001).
– ten important papers on the topic

Alvin Plantinga, Warrant: The Current Debate, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1993).
– the first three chapters offer a widely discussed critique of internalism

Perception:

John McDowell, Mind and World, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994).
– widely discussed book on the topic

Edmond Wright, "Recent Work in Perception," American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 21, January 1984, pp. 17-30.

Reliabilism & Externalist Theories of Knowledge (see also internalism and externalism):

Laurence BonJour, "Externalist Theories of Empirical Knowledge," Midwest Studies in Philosophy, vol. 5 (1980), pp. 53-73.
– widely discussed critique of externalism

Alvin Goldman, Epistemology and Cognition, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986).
– thorough development of reliabilism

Alvin Goldman, Liaisons, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992).
– collection of Goldman's most influential papers, including the two listed in the "Ten Most Widely Discussed…" list above

Robert Nozick, Philosophical Explanations, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981).
– section three develops a tracking account of knowledge

Fred Dretske, Knowledge and the Flow of Information, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1981).
– widely discussed externalist theory of knowledge

Marshall Swain, Reasons and Knowledge, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1981)
– carefully developed reliable indicator theory

Naturalized Epistemology:

Hilary Kornblith, Naturalizing Epistemology, Second Ed., (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1994).
– contains an excellent selection of influential papers

James Maffie, "Recent Work on Naturalized Epistemology," American Philosophical Quarterly, October 1990, pp. 281-293.

The Problem of Induction:

David Hume, Section Four of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.
– locus classicus for the problem of induction

Nelson Goodman, Fact, Fiction and Forecast, Fourth Ed. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983).
– locus classicus for the new riddle of induction

Douglas Stalker, ed., Grue! The New Riddle of Induction, (La Salle, IL: Open Court Press, 1994).
– offers a number of important papers and an extensive bibliography with detailed annotations

Problem of the Criterion:

Robert P. Amico, The Problem of the Criterion, (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1993).
– the only recent book-length treatment of the subject I am aware of

Roderick Chisholm, "The Problem of the Criterion," The Foundations of Knowing, ed. by Roderick Chisholm, (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1982).
– locus classicus for the contemporary discussion of the problem of the criterion

Self-Knowledge:

Quassim Cassam, ed., Self-Knowledge, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1994).
– a useful selection of articles

Quassim Cassam, Self and World, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997).
– widely discussed book on the subject

Alfred R. Mele, "Recent Work on Self-Deception," American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 24, January 1987, pp. 1-17.

Skepticism:

Stewart Cohen, "How to be a Fallibilist", Philosophical Perspectives, 2, Epistemology, ed. James Tomberlin, (1988), pp. 581-605.
– an early form of contextualism, also discusses a variety of other interesting skeptical issues

Keith DeRose and Ted A. Warfield, ed.s, Skepticism: A Contemporary Reader, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999).
– selection of seminal papers tracing various kinds of responses to skeptical concerns, includes DeRose's paper listed in the "Ten Most Widely Discussed…" list above

Fred Dretske , "Epistemic Operators", Journal of Philosophy, December 1970, pp. 1007-1023.
– offers an early relevant alternatives theory

Peter Klein, Certainty, (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1981).
– important discussion of closure issues

Duncan Pritchard, "Recent Work on Radical Skepticism," American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 3, July 2002, pp. 215-257.

Barry Stroud, The Significance of Philosophical Scepticism, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1984).
– widely discussed book on the subject

Social Epistemology:

Steve Fuller, "Recent Work in Social Epistemology," American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 33, no. 2, April 1996, pp. 149-166.

Testimony:

C. A. J. Coady, Testimony, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1992).
– book-length treatment of the subject

Jennifer Lackey and Ernest Sosa, ed.s, The Epistemology of Testimony, (New York, NY: Oxford, 2006).
– recent anthology on the subject

Value and Knowledge:

Duncan Pritchard, "Recent Work on Epistemic Value," American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2, April 2007, pp. 85-110.

Virtue Epistemology:

Guy Axtell, "Recent Work on Virtue Epistemology," American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 1, January 1997 pp. 1-26.

Guy Axtell, Knowledge, Belief and Character, (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000).
– excellent anthology on virtue epistemology

Ernest Sosa, ed., Knowledge in Perspective, (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
– essential collection of Sosa's articles covering virtue epistemology and other areas of interest

I'm going to teach a course on epistemology, and

I want a book on contemporary epistemology aimed at first- and second-year students, rather than something aimed at advanced undergraduates/graduate students.

Duncan Pritchard, What Is This Thing Called Knowledge?, (New York, NY: Routledge, 1996).
– this is probably as accessible as it's going to get – includes chapter summaries, a glossary and study questions

I want an anthology that includes both historical and contemporary sources, organized chronologically:

Paul K. Moser and Arnold vander Nat, Human Knowledge: Classic and Contemporary Approaches, Third Ed., (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003).
– the only one I know of

I want an anthology that includes both historical and contemporary sources, organized by topic:

Louis P. Pojman, The Theory of Knowledge, Classical and Contemporary Readings, Third Ed., (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2003).
– excellent and wide-ranging anthology, in addition to the usual it offers a section on the ethics of belief and detailed coverage of internalism/externalism and foundationalism/coherentism

Michael Huemer, Epistemology: Contemporary Readings, (New York, NY: Routledge, 2002).
– offers special emphasis on the sources of knowledge, i.e., perception, memory, testimony, as well as emphasizing the nature of inference

I want an anthology that contains only contemporary papers:

Sven Bernecker and Fred Dretske, Knowledge: Readings in Contemporary Epistemology, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000).
– offers extensive section on the sources of knowledge (perception, memory, introspection, induction) in addition to the usual topics

Kenneth G. Lucey, On Knowing and the Known: Introductory Readings in Epistemology, (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1996).
– thoughtfully constructed anthology, includes sections on the problem of the criterion, certainty and self-knowledge in addition to the usual subjects

Ernest Sosa and Jaegwon Kim, ed.s, Epistemology: An Anthology, (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000).
– one of the best of the several excellent recent epistemology anthologies available

I want a single-author book:

Note: There are a lot of these out there, and I don't know of a really bad one. Here are a few of the more popular and a few of those that offer something a bit different.

Robert Audi, Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge, (New York, NY: Routledge, 1998).
– ideal for the "I don't want to tell them – I want them to figure it out" school of instruction

Laurence BonJour and Ernest Sosa, Epistemic Justification, (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2003).
– offers a debate-type format

Laurence BonJour, Epistemology: Classic Problems and Contemporary Responses, (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002).
– offers a nice blend of discussion of both classic and contemporary sources

Richard Feldman, Epistemology, (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2003).
– concise, well-written and well-organized

Richard Fumerton, Epistemology, (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006).
– very concise and opinionated

Keith Lehrer, Theory of Knowledge, Second Ed., (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000).
– offers a detailed and sophisticated defense of coherentism

John L. Pollock and Joseph Cruz, Contemporary Theories of Knowledge, Second Ed., (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999).
– a thorough and sophisticated survey

I want a book on teaching contemporary epistemology:

Marjorie A. Clay, ed., Teaching Theory of Knowledge, (Tallahassee, FL: The Council for Philosophical Studies, 1986).
– the only one I know of

I am teaching a course on contemporary and/or classical skepticism, and am looking for an anthology on the topic intended for classroom use:

Keith DeRose and Ted A. Warfield, ed.s, Skepticism: A Contemporary Reader, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999).
– selection of seminal papers tracing various kinds of responses to skeptical concerns, includes solely contemporary sources

Charles Landesman and Robin Meeks, ed.s, Philosophical Skepticism. (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2003).
– contains mostly historical sources, and only a handful of contemporary ones – divided into sections on global skepticism and skeptical topics (perception, induction, other minds, religious belief, etc.)

Richard H. Popkin and Jose R. Maia Neto, ed.s, Skepticism: An Anthology, (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Press, 2007).
– contains mostly historical sources and only a handful of contemporary ones, arranged chronologically

I want to know which epistemology anthologies my professors probably used, but I am afraid to ask:

Some popular post-Gettier anthologies (in chronological order):

Michael D. Roth and Leon Gallis, ed.s, Knowing: Essays in the Analysis of Knowledge, (New York, NY: Random House, 1970).
– one of the first anthologies to collect replies to Gettier, in addition to brief sections on belief and the KK-thesis

George S. Pappas and Marshall Swain, ed.s, Essays on Knowledge and Justification, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1978).
– intended as a replacement for the deleted Roth and Gallis, articles trace the continuing discussion of Gettier and includes some important papers on skepticism

Paul K. Moser, ed., Empirical Knowledge, (Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Littlefield, 1986).
– relatively brief anthology that contains some of the best of the best of the time

Louis Pojman, ed., The Theory of Knowledge: Classic and Contemporary Readings, (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1993).
– excellent anthology filled a void of very few epistemology anthologies designed for courses

My professor's older than time: some popular pre-Gettier anthologies (in reverse chronological order):

Note: Pre-Gettier epistemology anthologies are often a different breed, focusing on issues often relatively neglected today.

Roderick Chisholm and Robert J. Swartz, ed.s, Empirical Knowledge: Readings From Contemporary Sources, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973).
– includes sections on skepticism, perception, memory, introspection, and foundationalism

Robert R. Ammerman and Marcus G. Singer, ed.s, Belief, Knowledge, and Truth: Readings in the Theory of Knowledge, (New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970).
– lives up to its title, with sections on belief (including the nature of belief, the ethics of belief, and appeal to authority), knowledge (knowing how, the given, a priori knowledge, induction) and truth (the correspondence theory, the coherence theory, the pragmatic theory, etc.)

Ernest Nagel and Richard B. Brandt, Meaning and Knowledge, (New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1965).
– heavily influenced by early analytic philosophy, includes sections on meaning, truth, a priori knowledge, universals, induction, skepticism, memory, perception, and other minds

John V. Canfield and Franklin H. Donnell, Jr., Readings in the Theory of Knowledge, (New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1964).
– includes sections on knowledge, rationalism and empiricism, truth, induction and special emphasis on perception