'Knowledge' ascriptions, social roles and semantics

McKenna, R (2013) 'Knowledge' ascriptions, social roles and semantics Episteme, 10 (4). pp. 335-350. ISSN 1742-3600, 1750-0117

Text Knowledge Ascriptions, Social Roles and Semantics.pdf - Author Accepted Manuscript Download (223kB)

Abstract

The idea that the concept 'knowledge' has a distinctive function or social role is increasingly influential within contemporary epistemology. Perhaps the best-known account of the function of 'knowledge' is that developed in Edward Craig's Knowledge and the State of Nature (1990, Oxford University Press), on which (roughly) 'knowledge' has the function of identifying good informants. Craig's account of the function of 'knowledge' has been appealed to in support of a variety of views, and in this paper I'm concerned with the claim that it supports a sort of epistemic contextualism, which is (roughly) the view that the semantic contents and truth-conditions of 'knowledge' ascriptions-instances of 'S knows that p'-depend on and vary with the context of ascription (see, for instance, John Greco's 'What's wrong with contextualism', Philosophical Quarterly [2008]). Prima facie, this claim should strike us as surprising. A number of concepts and linguistic items (words, sentences) serve functions that have little or nothing to do with semantics. However, I argue that, on the best interpretation of talk of the function of a concept such as 'knowledge', the function of 'knowledge' is relevant to semantics. Along the way I also suggest how to improve on what I call the 'usual argument' that Craig's account of the function of 'knowledge' supports epistemic contextualism. © 2013 Cambridge University Press.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	5003 Philosophy, 5004 Religious Studies, 50 Philosophy and Religious Studies, 5002 History and Philosophy Of Specific Fields
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	12 Sep 2018 15:39
Last Modified:	01 Mar 2026 11:56
DOI:	10.1017/epi.2013.30
Related Websites:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3026179
Disclaimer:	The University of Liverpool is not responsible for content contained on other websites from links within repository metadata. Please contact us if you notice anything that appears incorrect or inappropriate.