
Contents
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I. Basic Sources of Knowledge and Justification I. Basic Sources of Knowledge and Justification
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II. Testimony as an Essential Source II. Testimony as an Essential Source
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III. Sources and Grounds III. Sources and Grounds
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IV. The Epistemic Autonomy of the Basic Sources IV. The Epistemic Autonomy of the Basic Sources
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V. Coherence V. Coherence
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VI. Conclusion VI. Conclusion
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Notes Notes
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2 The Sources of Knowledge
Get accessRobert Audi is Professor of Philosophy and David E. Gallo Chair in Ethics at the University of Notre Dame. He works in ethics and in related philosophical fields, especially epistemology. His books include Action, Intention, and Reason (1993), The Structure of Justification (1993), Moral Knowledge and Ethical Character (1997), Religious Commitment and Secular Reason (2000), The Architecture of Reason (2001), The Good in the Right: A Theory of Intuition and Intrinsic Value (2004), and Moral Value and Human Diversity (2007).
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Published:02 September 2009
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Abstract
This article identifies the sources from which one acquires knowledge or justified belief. It distinguishes the “four standard basic sources”: perception, memory, consciousness, and reason. A basic source yields knowledge or justified belief without positive dependence on another source. This article distinguishes each of the above as a basic source of knowledge, with the exception of memory. Memory, while a basic source of justification, plays a preservative rather than a generative role in knowledge. This article contrasts basic sources with nonbasic sources, concentrating on testimony. After clarifying the relationship between a source and a ground, or “what it is in virtue of which one knows or justifiedly believes,” this article evaluates the basic sources' individual and collective autonomy as well as their vulnerability to defeasibility. It examines the relationship of coherence to knowledge and justification, noting the distinction between a negative dependence on incoherence and a positive dependence on coherence.
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