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A metaphysics for practical knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Kim Frost*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA

Abstract

Is Anscombean practical knowledge independent of what the agent actually does on an occasion? Failure to understand Anscombe’s answer to this question is a major obstacle to appreciating the subtlety and plausibility of her view. I argue that Anscombe’s answer is negative, and turns on the nature of mistakes in performance, and reveals a distinctive implicit metaphysics of mind and knowledge, structured by related capacities and exercises of capacities. If my interpretation is correct, then practical knowledge shares features with knowledge-how and knowledge-that, but deserves its own epistemic category.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2018

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