Knowing How: Essays on Knowledge, Mind, and Action

by John Bengson, Marc A. Moffett

Overview

Knowledge how to do things is a pervasive and central element of everyday life. Yet it raises many difficult questions that must be answered by philosophers and cognitive scientists aspiring to understand human cognition and agency. What is the connection between knowing how and knowing that? Is knowledge how simply a type of ability or disposition to act? Is there an irreducibly practical form of knowledge? What is the role of the intellect in intelligent action? This volume contains fifteen state of the art essays by leading figures in philosophy and linguistics that amplify and sharpen the debate between "intellectualists" and "anti-intellectualists" about mind and action, highlighting the conceptual, empirical, and linguistic issues that motivate and sustain the conflict. The essays also explore various ways in which this debate informs central areas of ethics, philosophy of action, epistemology, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind and cognitive science.

Knowing How covers a broad range of topics dealing with tacit and procedural knowledge, the psychology of skill, expertise, intelligence and intelligent action, the nature of ability, the syntax and semantics of embedded questions, the mind-body problem, phenomenal character, epistemic injustice, moral knowledge, the epistemology of logic, linguistic competence, the connection between knowledge and understanding, and the relation between theory and practice.

This is the book on knowing how—an invaluable resource for philosophers, linguists, psychologists, and others concerned with knowledge, mind, and action.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190200220
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/01/2014
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	418
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

John Bengson is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Marc A. Moffett is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Texas, El Paso.

Table of Contents

Contributors
Acknowledgments
The State of Play
1. Two Conceptions of Mind and Action: Knowing How and the Philosophical Theory of Intelligence, John Bengson and Marc A. Moffett

Part I Ryle's Legacy
2. Rylean Arguments: Ancient and Modern, Paul F. Snowdon
3. Ryle's Knowing How and Knowing How to Act , Jennifer Hornsby

Part II Philosophical Considerations
4. Practical Expertise, Julia Annas
5. Knowing How Without Knowing That, Yuri Cath
6. Knowledge How: A Unified Account, Berit Brogaard
7. Non-propositional Intellectualism, John Bengson and Marc A. Moffett
8. Ideology and the Third Realm (Or, a Short Essay on Knowing How to Philosophize), Alva Noë

Part III The Linguistic Perspective
9. How to Resolve How To, Jonathan Ginzburg
10. Knowing How and Knowing Answers, David Braun
11. Knowledge Ascription by Grammatical Construction, Laura A. Michaelis

Part IV Implications and Applications: The Broader Context
12. Knowing How and Epistemic Injustice, Katherine Hawley
13. Knowing What It Is Like, Michael Tye
14. Linguistic Knowledge, Michael Devitt
15. Inference, Deduction, Logic, Ian Rumfitt
References

Editorial Reviews

"All essays in the book are written with admirable clarity, awaken a desire to ponder the ongoing debates, and are rich in examples. The essays cover difficult topics, but they are rewarding, as one would expect from high quality works on a topic probing the intersection of knowledge, language, mind, and action...Knowing How is an excellent collection from some exceptional philosophers."—Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

From the Publisher