“Externalists reject any such view. I think that the idea that we can tell, simply by way of reflection, whether our beliefs are justified, is deeply commonsensical. More than that, the idea that responsible epistemic agents ought to reflect on their beliefs, and hold them only if they somehow pass muster, is utterly natural.” IfsThinkingWayIdeasBeliefNaturalViewsOughtReflectionResponsibleAgentsRejectsJustifiedMuster Author:Hilary Kornblith
“I am quite wedded to the view that epistemologists should concern themselves with knowledge rather than our concept of knowledge. The analogy I like to draw here is with our understanding of (other) natural kinds.” ShouldKindUnderstandingNaturalViewsDrawsConceptsConcernAnalogies Author:Hilary Kornblith
“I think that when I first suggested the idea that knowledge should be viewed as a natural kind, many people thought this was just crazy.” PeopleThinkingShouldFirstsKindIdeasNaturalCrazy Author:Hilary Kornblith
“I have made some headway in addressing these questions, however, and succeeded in explaining how it is that the category of knowledge might play an important role in empirical theories. To the extent that talk of knowledge can be shown to play an explanatory role in such theories, the analogy I wish to make with paradigm natural kinds such as acids and aluminum starts to make a good deal of sense. This is, of course, connected with the issue of the role of intuitions in philosophy.” KindMadeImportantPhilosophyPlayMightCoursesWishNaturalDealsRolesIssuesTheoryConnectedIntuitionCategoriesExplainingAcidParadigmAnalogiesAluminum Author:Hilary Kornblith
“In my view, since the case can be made that knowledge too is a natural kind, the role of pretheoretical intuitions is similarly diminished in epistemology.” KindMadeNaturalViewsRolesCasesIntuitionEpistemology Author:Hilary Kornblith
“I do realise that talk of natural kinds dates back to Aristotle, but I'd better not say too much about ancient philosophers lest I be convicted of practicing history of philosophy without a license.” KindPhilosophyNaturalToo MuchAncientPhilosopherRealisingLicense Author:Hilary Kornblith
“My own reasons for favouring talk of natural kinds is just that I believe the best accounts of the success of scientific theories presupposes the existence of natural kinds.” BelieveKindReasonI BelieveNaturalMy OwnExistenceTheoryAccountsScientific Theory Author:Hilary Kornblith
“If we want to make sense of the possibility of successful inductive inference, and if we want to explain the possibility of laws of nature, we will need to appeal to something like natural kinds. This is, to be sure, a metaphysical commitment, but it is a metaphysical commitment that is implicit in science, as I see it.” IfsWantNeedsKindLawNaturalSuccessfulPossibilityCommitmentAppealsMake SenseMetaphysicalLaws Of NatureImplicitInference Author:Hilary Kornblith
“No one worries terribly much about who the questions belong to, or whether a given contribution is really philosophy or, instead, properly nothing but science. Perhaps another way to put this is that, although I think that knowledge is a natural kind, I don't think that philosophy is.” ThinkingWayKindPhilosophyGivenNaturalWorryContributionAnother Way Author:Hilary Kornblith
