Testimony: A Philosophical Study

Informal Logic, 1994

2013

The dissertation of Michael Wayne Hermon has been approved by the following supervisory committee members:

Mind, 2007

Philosophical Issues, 2004

2008

What does it make social epistemology “social”? What does it make social epistemology “epistemological”? What is testimony? In this paper, I propose to consider to what extent these questions are related, and how the answer to the third one could shed some light on the nature of social epistemology. As it is well known, much of our knowledge is obtained from others simply by attending to their actions and words. Certainly, the most part of this knowledge, I will claim, is acquired from instrumental grounds and not by testimony. For example, when I meet a tourist asking for the Prado Museum, I obtain the knowledge that she has some competence in Spanish without mediating a testimonial act. Nevertheless, part of the knowledge acquired from others issubstantively testimonial, as for example when, while foraging wild mushrooms, I inquire: “Is this a dangerous one?”, and receive the answer: “No, this is an Amanita Cesarea, you can eat it safely”. This is a case of non-instrumental testim...

Book series 'Bloomsbury Critical Introductions to Contemporary Epistemology', 2014

Offering a thorough philosophical introduction to testimony, this is the first comprehensive survey of the epistemology of testimony since Coady's 1992 'Testimony: A Philosophical Study' (OUP 1992); its target audience consists of students, early-career researchers, and established scholars. Special emphasis has been paid to recent research questions, notably also from applied social epistemology (e.g. epistemic injustice, rumor, pathologies of testimony, value of knowledge, social and public trust etc.).

Book series 'Bloomsbury Critical Introductions to Contemporary Epistemology', 2014

Excerpt of the published version (with permission by the publisher), including Table of Contents, Introduction, and Index. The first comprehensive survey of the epistemology of testimony since Coady's 1992 'Testimony: A Philosophical Study' (OUP 1992). From the reviews: "A lucid, comprehensive, fair and balanced introduction to the epistemology of testimony, clearly useful for students and scholars alike." - Peter Graham (UC Riverside) "A must-read for anyone interested in social epistemology." - Jennier Lackey (Northwestern)

… for Theory, History and Foundations of …, 2008