The Epistemology Page
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Keith DeRose,
Yale University
Dept. of Philosophy

My goal is to pull together some resources in epistemology. I have very limited time for maintaining this page, so it is bound to be very incomplete. Hopefully, though, there will be enough material here for the page to be somewhat useful to those interested in epistemology.

When I started using hit meters on this page, I became aware of the fact that this page gets a lot of internet traffic, much of it apparently from surfers who are referred here from Google searches, mainly on the term "epistemology." I suspect many of those surfers are looking for more basic information than I provide here.  Indeed, many are probably seeking a fairly basic answer to the question "What is epistemology?", and/or basic introductory material on what the main topics in the field are, while this page is intended as a research aid for those who already have a pretty good idea of what epistemology is.
So, for those looking for more basic information, see: What Is Epistemology?  A Brief Introduction to the Topic.
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Blog, hopelessly devoted to epistemology: Certain Doubts.


Contents:

1. Some Epistemology courses with Syllabi/Information On-Line
2. Graduate Programs strong in epistemology
3. Some Epistemologists and Some of Their Epistemological Publications (since 1995)
          A . C . F . H . K . M . R . T .
4. Other Epistemology sites


1. Some Epistemology courses with Syllabi / Helpful Information On-Line:

 
G. Axtell
University of Nevada, Reno
Phil 440/640.
Theory of Knowledge
Fall 2007
M. Bergmann Purdue University Phil. 432 Theory of Knowledge Spring 2006
T. Black University of Utah Phil. 5300/6300. Epistemology Spring 2003
D. Braun
University of Rochester
Phil. 516.
Selected Topics in Philosophy of Language: Knowing That, Knowing Who, and Context
Fall 2005
J. Comesaña
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Phil. 903.
Epistemology Seminar: Skepticism and The Semantics of Knowledge Attributions
Fall 2006
T. Cross, K. DeRose
Yale University
Phil. 702.
Safety and Sensitivity of Beliefs
Spring 2006
Joe Cruz
Williams College
Phil. 331.
Contemporary Epistemology
Spring 2009
K. DeRose
Yale University
Phil. 270.
Basic Undergraduate Epistemology Course
Spring 2008
K. DeRose
Yale University
Phil. 704.
Basic Graduate Epistemology Course
Spring 2008
K. DeRose Yale University Phil. 441/641 Epistemology seminar, covering main topics, with special focus on skepticism
Spring 1999
K. DeRose Yale University Phil. 704 Contextualism vs. Invariantism in Epistemology Spring 2004
K. DeRose
Yale University
Phil. 300.
Skepticism
Fall 2006
C.E.M. Dunlap
University of Michigan, Flint
Phil.  482
Contemporary Issues in Epistemology
Spring 2005?
C. Elgin
Harvard University
Phil. 159
Epistemology
Fall 2005
R. Feldman Universtiy of Rochester Phil. 243/443 Theory of Knowledge Fall 2002
B. Fitelson
University of California, Berkeley
Phil. 122
Theory of Knowledge
Spring 2007
B. Fitelson
University of California, Berkeley
Phil. 148.
Probability and Induction
Spring 2008
B. Fitelson
University of California, Berkeley
Phil. 290-1
Confirmation (grad seminar)
Fall 2007
B. Fitelson and S. Roush
University of California, Berkeley
Phil. 290.
Williamson's Knowledge and Its Limits
Fall 2006
B. Fitelson
University of California, Berkeley
Phil. 290-3.
Contemporary Debates in Epistemology
Spring 2009
B. Frances
Fordham University
PHGA 7358.
Contemporary Responses to Skepticism (seminar)
Fall 2008
T. Gendler
Cornell University
Phil. 361.
Contemporary Epistemology
Spring 2005
Alvin Goldman
Rutgers University
Phil. 595.
Proseminar in Philosophy (1st half on epistemology)
Fall 2008
P. Greenough
University of St. Andrews
Phil. PY4606.
Contemporary Epistemology
Fall 2005
P. Greenough University of St. Andrews PY3001 Epistemology Fall 2003
P. Greenough University of St. Andrews PY5102 Current Issues, Epistemology Spring 2004
Peter Hanks
University of Minnesota
Phil. 4105W.
Epistemology
Fall 2008
G. Harman Princeton University Phil. 539 Theory of Knowledge Spring 2003
T. Horgan University of Arizona Phil. 441 Theory of Knowledge Spring 2004
M. Huemer University of Colorado, Boulder Phil. 3340 (pdf doc) Epistemology Fall 2006
T. Kelly
Princeton University
Phil. 313 (word doc)
Theory of Knowledge
Fall 2008
T. Kelly
Princeton University
Phil. 513 (pdf doc)
Rationality and Objectivity
Spring 2006
T. Kelly
Princeton University
Phil. 523 (word doc)
Problems of Philosophy: Epistemology: Themes from Boghossian, Christensen and DeRose
Spring 2009
J. Kvanvig University of Missouri Phil 4300 (pdf doc)
Epistemology Winter 2006
J. Lackey
Northern Illinois University
Phil. 311 (pdf doc)
Problems of Knowledge
Fall 2006
J. Lackey
Northern Illinois University
Phil. 511 (pdf doc)
Epistemology
Spring 2005
L. Loeb University of Michigan Phil. 389 History of Philosophy: 17th and 18th Centuries [History course, but with lots of epistemology] Winter 2003
W. Lycan University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Phil. 477 Skepticism and Contextualism; Virtue Epistemology Spring 2002
J. Lyons
University of Arkansas
Phil. 4203/5203 (pdf doc)
Theory of Knowledge
Fall 2006
Ted Poston
University of South Alabama
Phil. 441.
Epistemology
Fall 2008
J. Pryor Harvard University Phil. 253 A Priori Knowledge Fall 2000
J. Pryor Princeton University Phil. 313 Theory of Knowledge Spring 2004
J. Pryor
New York University
G83.1101
Advanced Introduction to Epistemology
Fall 2007
B. Rives
Union College
Phil. 367
Skepticism
Fall 2005
J. Stanley University of Michigan (Stanley is now at Rutgers)
Phil. 530 (word doc) Theory of Knowledge (skepticism, closure, contextualism, etc.) Spring 2004
J. Stanley
Rutgers University
Phil. 650 (pdf doc)
Seminar on Knowing How
Spring 2009
S. Stich
Rutgers University
Phil. 556/656.
Experimental Philosophy - graduate seminar
Spring 2008
M. Tooley University of Colorado, Boulder Phil. 3340 Epistemology Fall 2001
B. van Fraassen, T. Kelly
Princeton University
Phil. 539 (word doc.)
Theory of Knowledge: Evidence
Spring 2008


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2. Graduate Programs Strong in Epistemology


From time to time I am asked, mostly by philosophers who have an undergraduate student who is interested in going on to do graduate work in philosophy, which are the best departments to go to for epistemology.  For what it's worth, here are my thoughts on the subject.

First of all, instead of asking me, you should check out Brian Leiter's Philosophical Gourmet Report, which is a good resource for anyone interested in graduate work in philosophy.  Particularly helpful is the PGR's "Breakdown of Programs by Specialties" which, for many particular areas of philosophy, including epistemology, ranks departments by how strong they are in that area.  These specialty rankings are determined by a survey of experts in the field.  (The names of the evaluators for epistemology are listed right below the epistemology rankings.)  Programs are placed in "groups" based on whether their mean score in epistemology is closer to 5, 4.5, 4, 3.5, or 3.  Here are the top 6 programs in epistemology, according to the 2009 PGR: Oxford and Rutgers (listed alphabetically) together form Group 1, with rounded mean scores of 5; New York University is by itself in Group 2, with a rounded mean 4.5; and in Group 3, with mean scores of 4, we find (listed alphabetically) Princeton, University of Arizona, and Yale.  Follow the "epistemology" link above to see the many departments in Groups 4 and 5.  Below are very brief descriptions of the six departments in the first three Groups, and some general advice on choosing programs in epistemology.

Boasting several very prominent epistemologists on its faculty, Rutgers certainly belongs in the top group.  Alvin Goldman, Peter Klein, Ernest Sosa, Jason Stanley, and Stephen Stich constitute a very formidable line-up of senior epistemologists.  Additionally, and importantly, Rutgers also has several excellent faculty members who, though epistemology is not their main area of research, have done or do good work in the area: Brian Loar, Barry Loewer, and Brian McLaughlin.  A graduate student could easily put together an outstanding dissertation committee for a wide variety of dissertation topics in epistemology at Rutgers.

Oxford University features Timothy Williamson, one of the world's top epistemologists and author of Knowledge and Its Limits (Oxford UP, 2000), one of the best and most important books in epistemology in recent years.  (In fact, in my view, that's a bit of an understatement: I'm on record as saying KAIL is the best book in epistemology to come out since 1975.)  Joining Williamson to form an impressive group of epistemologists are Quassim Cassam, John Hawthorne, and Ralph Wedgwood, and several other faculty who have episemology as an area of interest.  And joining this formidable group since the previous (2006) PGRs were done is Scott Sturgeon.  (In the '06 PGRs, Rutgers was by itself in Group 1.  When it was subsequently announced that Sturgeon had accepted an offer to come to Oxford, I wondered on this page whether that would result in Oxford moving up into Group 1 with Rutgers.  Turns out, it did.)

NYU's epistemology team is anchored by four excellent senior epistemologists, Paul Bogghossian, Richard Foley, James Pryor, and Crispin Wright.  Foley is serving as a Dean at NYU, as well as being a member of the philosophy department, so there is no doubt very stiff competition for his time and energy.  NYU also has some other outstanding philosophers who, though epistemology might not be among their current main area of research, would be very good to work with there.  Peter Unger, though he now works mainly in other areas, used to be primarily an epistemologist (and an excellent one, too: there's a reason why I picked 1975 as the year since which Williamson's KAIL is the best epistemology book: I'd pick Unger's '75 skeptical treatise, Ignorance, as the best book in epistemology since I-don't-know(!)-when).  And there are several other faculty members at NYU whom I think it would be very exciting to work with in epistemology.  For example, though they don't list epistemology as one of their areas (at least on NYU's faculty web page), Thomas Nagel and, especially, Stephen Schiffer have each done some fairly recent work there.  NYU should be viewed as having improved in epistemology since the previous 2006 surveys, since Wright, who was listed as only a quarter-time visitor on the 06 surveys, has since become a full-timer at NYU, and was listed as such in the new surveys.  However, the net results of all the changes at the top epistemology departments is that Oxford moved out of its tie with NYU in Group 2 up to a tie with Rutgers in Group 1.  My suspicion is that NYU was probably not that far behind Rutgers and Oxford.  (I wish the PGR would report the actual means, rounded to three significant digits (e.g., 4.78), rather than just the mean rounded to the nearest half point, in its area rankings.  My guess is that this isn't done because it might encourage readers of the report to put too much weight on small differences in scores.  I would prefer this danger be handled by reporting the means as I suggested, but warning readers against placing too much importance in small differences.  If, for instance, one program's mean score was 4.76, and so got rounded up to 5 and it was therefore put into Group 1, and another program's mean was 4.74, and so was rounded down to 4.5 and it was thus put into Group 2, it would be good for readers to know that though the programs ended up in different groups, they were actually extremely close in mean scores.)  At any rate (whatever the results of the new PGR were, exactly), my own opinion is that NYU should be viewed as roughly equivalent to the two programs in Group 1, and potential epistemologists should choose among these three based on how well their own particular interests within epistemology match up with the work of the faculty in these programs, rather than on the difference in groups between how NYU and the other two fared in the new PGRs.

The University of Arizona is the newcomer to Group 3, moving up from its Group 4 ranking in the 2006 epistemology rankings, due to the addition of a leading epistemologist, Stewart Cohen.  (Moving down out of Group 3 are the St. Andrews/Stirling program, which lost (at least most of) Crispin Wright, and Notre Dame, which didn't lose any epistemologists off its official PGR faculty lists; however, I suspect many evaluators had heard that Alvin Plantinga was retiring after this year, and so were largely discounting him.)  Cohen joins epistemologists Terry Horgan and John Pollock at Arizona -- and Keith Lehrer is listed, but under the heading "Emeritus Faculty Still Doing Some Teaching & Supervision."  Arizona was long a powerhouse in epistemology, during the glory years of Alvin Goldman (now at Rutgers), Lehrer (now emeritus), and Pollock.  It's nice to see them making a comeback in epistemology.

Princeton
's place in epistemology is secured largely by the presence of Gilbert Harman, one of the most accomplished figures in epistemology.  Harman is joined by the up-and-coming -- and recently tenured -- Thomas Kelly, an excellent young epistemologist with some first-rate papers to his name already.

Yale
is my own department, so there is danger of bias here.  Other epistemologists at Yale are George Bealer, much of whose important work has been in epistemology, especially on a priori knowledge, and Tamar Gendler, co-editor (along with John Hawthorne) of the prestigious Oxford Studies in Epistemology, much of whose interesting epistemological work to date is in areas of overlap between epistemology and other areas of philosophy (e.g., philosophy of mind, the theory of modality, philosophy of science).

For the most part, and unsurprisingly, the top departments in epistemology tend to also be among the top programs overall in philosophy.  In fact, the top three programs in epistemology also constitute the top three overall programs in the English-speaking world (though in a different order, NYU being first overall, Oxford second, and Rutgers third).  And the other programs in the top 6 for epistemology aren't that far behind in overall ratings: Princeton is 4th in the overalls (for the English-speaking world), Yale 9th, and Arizona is in a three-way tie for positions 14-16.  For prospective epistemology students, that's both good news and bad.  Good because it's important to go to a program with good over-all strength, and not just one good in your own area of specialization.  Bad because, being among the top overall programs, these top epistemology departments are no doubt highly selective in admissions and therefore tough to get into.  (Just going by overall ranking, which is all I really have to go by here, my guess is that Yale and, to a greater extent, Arizona, should be significantly easier to get into than the others.  But many of the programs in Group 4 in epistemology are probably significantly easier still.)  Prospective students interested in epistemology are therefore well-advised to also look into other programs strong in epistemology; see the list of strong programs in the PGR, following the above links.  There are many programs, especially those listed in Group 4, that would be excellent choices for prospective epistemologists.

But in choosing a program for epistemology, whether it's one of the "top 6" mentioned above, or one of the Group 4 or Group 5 programs listed in the PGR, or one of the programs that didn't make the lists, much will depend, of course, on how well your approach, style, and particular interests match up with the faculty at the various programs.  On that score, you might do well to read some of the published papers of the relevant faculty, and find someone whose work interests you.  As a start, you can check out the depatments' and individuals' web sites, to which I've provided some links (in this section, for some of the departments [for other departments, you can use my list of links to philosophy programs with PhD programs], and below for many of the individual epistemologists).  Unfortunately, you will find that, believe it or not, very many philosophers, including very many from departments with graduate programs, don't even bother to post their CVs or a reasonably complete list of publications on-line!  Still, many do, and one can get quite a bit of helpful information on-line. 

Hope this is of some help, future colleagues in epistemology.  Remember that it's just one epistemologist's opinion.  Talk to your adivsors about it.



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3. Some Epistemologists and Some of Their Epistemological Publications (since 1995)

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This list is far from exhaustive. I add publications and epistemologists willy-nilly as I come across them or as they're suggested to me.  (So if an epistemology paper of yours isn't listed, or if you're an epistemologist who isn't listed, don't conclude that I've looked at your paper, or at you, but judged them or you unworthy to be included in this index.  It may well even be that I did see your paper and loved it, but didn't have my computer handy at the time, and then didn't remember you & your paper when I did get around to revising this page.)  Still, many have e-mailed to tell me that they find this list very helpful, despite its limitations.  Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the list are the links to various epistemologists' homepages, where you can often find a much more complete description of their epistemological (and other) work (including pre-1995 papers). A few epistemologists are listed without any papers listed below their names.  This is because I'm not aware of any epistemology they've published since 1995.  In each such case, they've done important epistemology in the past, so it was worth providing a link to their home page, where one can often find references to those golden oldies.

A . C . F . H . K . M . R . T


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4. Other Epistemology sites:


Last modified 13 July 2009
Keith DeRose

visitors to my web site since 6/8/03