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Quote by Hilary Kornblith

“Bealer has a number of reasons for thinking that a naturalistic epistemology is self-undermining. Let me focus on one of these. (I've tried to take on all of them in the first chapter of Knowledge and Its Place in Nature.)”

Quote by Hilary Kornblith

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Hilary Kornblith

Limited information is available about Hilary Kornblith, whose profession and category are unknown. Details about his life experience, achievements, and impact are lacking. more

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“Bealer argues that the kind of naturalistic view which Quine holds will rob him of the ability to make the normative claims which (many) naturalists wish to make in epistemology. I don't think this is right about Quine, but I'm certain it's not right about my own view. To the extent that I can show that talk of knowledge is firmly rooted within empirical theories where it plays an important explanatory role, I thereby demonstrate its naturalistic credentials.”

Thinking Kind I Can Important Play Shows Certain Wish My Own Ability Views Roles Theory Claims Arguing Rooted Epistemology Naturalist Credentials

Author:Hilary Kornblith

“But there is no doubt that my own views on this are, in quite a number of ways, very different from those of Quine.”

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Author:Hilary Kornblith

“What I argue is that talk of knowledge plays an important role in theories within cognitive ethology. The idea is this. First, one sees cognitive ethologists arguing that we need to attribute propositional attitudes to some animals in order to explain the sophistication of their cognitive achievements.”

Needs Firsts Important Ideas Play Order Animal Attitude Roles Theory Achievement Arguing Attributes Cognitive Sophistication

Author:Hilary Kornblith

“Talk of belief in these animals is not some kind of anthropomorphism. We simply cannot explain the kinds of problem solving and behavioral sophistication some species exhibit without supposing that they have genuine beliefs. But once these ethologists finish making the case for animal belief, they quickly move to talk of animal knowledge as well. What I argue is that this is not a mere façon de parler.”

Wells Kind Problem Moving Belief Animal Cases Mere Species Arguing Genuine Problem Solving Exhibits Sophistication Supposing Supposing That Anthropomorphism

Author:Hilary Kornblith

“Rather, although belief may be adequate for explaining the behavior of individual animals - an animal which believes that p will behave no differently from an animal which knows that p - talk of knowledge is necessary once one begins to look at explaining the cognitive capacities of a species.”

Knows Believe Looks May Individual Belief Animal Behavior Capacity Species Behave Adequate Explaining Cognitive

Author:Hilary Kornblith

“There is a difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man is really so; but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.”

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“The various processes of belief acquisition which are native to a species include ones which may allow for the reliable pick-up of information, which, in turn, allows individual members of the species to successfully negotiate their environment and satisfy their various desires.”

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Author:Hilary Kornblith

“Ethologists thus have an interest in looking at these capacities for the reliable acquisition of belief, and it is not surprising that they have a name for the true beliefs which are the typical product of these reliable capacities. They call them items of knowledge. So I argue that talk of knowledge may thereby be seen to be embedded within a successful empirical theory.”

May Names Belief Interest Successful Products Theory Capacity Arguing Surprising Typical Items Acquisition Embedded

Author:Hilary Kornblith

“I largely defer to the cognitive ethologists. I believe that the arguments that they make on this score are extremely persuasive. More than this, I do think as well that a priori objections by philosophers to successful research programs in the sciences have a very bad track record.”

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Author:Hilary Kornblith

“The fact that these scientific theories have a fine track record of successful prediction and explanation speaks for itself. (Which is not to say that I don't directly discuss the work of those philosophers who would disagree.) But even if we grant this, many will argue that scientific knowledge in humans, and, indeed, reflective knowledge in general, is quite different in kind from the knowledge we see in other animals.”