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2 - The Framework Presented

Testimonial Knowledge and the Flow of Information

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2020

John Greco
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
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Summary

Chapter 2 introduces an “information economy” framework for approaching the epistemology of testimony. It is argued that, in a well-designed epistemic community, the norms governing information acquisition and information distribution will be different. This is because the dominant concern of information acquisition is quality control, whereas the dominant concern of information distribution is to provide access. The central idea, then, is to understand knowledge generation in terms of the norms governing information acquisition and to understand knowledge transmission in terms of the norms governing information distribution. The reason for adopting this approach is its explanatory power.In particular, the framework (a) explains a range of cases in the testimony literature; (b) provides a principled understanding of the transmission–generation distinction; and (c) explains the truth behind various and conflicting positions in the epistemology of testimony. Moreover, the framework nicely integrates with other plausible positions in epistemology, the philosophy of language, action theory, social science, and cognitive science.

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Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • The Framework Presented
  • John Greco, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: The Transmission of Knowledge
  • Online publication: 21 August 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108560818.003
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  • The Framework Presented
  • John Greco, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: The Transmission of Knowledge
  • Online publication: 21 August 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108560818.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Framework Presented
  • John Greco, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: The Transmission of Knowledge
  • Online publication: 21 August 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108560818.003
Available formats
×