Abstract
In this article, I discuss Hawthorne’s contextualist solution to Benacerraf’s dilemma. He wants to find a satisfactory epistemology to go with realist ontology, namely with causally inaccessible mathematical and modal entities. I claim that he is unsuccessful. The contextualist theories of knowledge attributions were primarily developed as a response to the skeptical argument based on the deductive closure principle. Hawthorne uses the same strategy in his attempt to solve the epistemologist puzzle facing the proponents of mathematical and modal realism, but this problem is of a different nature than the skeptical one. The contextualist theory of knowledge attributions cannot help us with the question about the nature of mathematical and modal reality and how they can be known. I further argue that Hawthorne’s account does not say anything about a priori status of mathematical and modal knowledge. Later, Hawthorne adds to his account an implausible claim that in some contexts a gettierized belief counts as knowledge.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Benacerraf, P. 1973: “Mathematical Truth,” Journal of Philosophy 70, 661–680.
Cohen, S. 1988: “How to be a Fallibilist,” Philosophical Perspectives 2, Epistemology, 91–123.
Cohen, S. 1999: “Contextualism, Skepticism, and the Structure of Reasons,” Philosophical Perspectives 2, Epistemology, 57–89.
Cohen, S. 2000a: “Contextualism and Skepticism,” Philosophical Issues 10, Skepticism, 94–107.
Cohen, S. 2000b: “Contextualist Solutions to Epistemological Problems: Scepticism, Gettier, and the Lottery,” reprinted in E. Sosa and J. Kim (eds.), Epistemology: An Anthology, Malden, Mass. and Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. (Originally published in Australasian Journal of Philosophy 76, 1998.)
DeRose, K. 1998: “Contextualism and Knowledge Attributions,” reprinted in L. Martin Alcoff, (ed.), Epistemology: The Big Questions, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. (Originally published in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 52, 1992.)
DeRose, K. 2000: “Solving the Skeptical Problem,” reprinted in E. Sosa and J. Kim, (eds.), Epistemology: An Anthology, Malden, Mass. and Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. (Originally published in The Philosophical Review 104, 1995.)
Hawthorne, J. 1996: “The Epistemology of Possible Worlds: A Guided Tour,” Philosophical Studies 84, 183–202.
Hawthorne, J. 2000: “Implicit Belief and A Priori Knowledge,” The Southern Journal of Philosophy 38, Supp., 191–210.
Hawthorne, J. 2004: Knowledge and Lotteries, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Heller, M. 1999: “The Proper Role for Contextualism in an Anti-Luck Epistemology,” Philosophical Perspectives 2, Epistemology, 115–129.
Kaplan, D. 1989: “Demonstratives: An Essay on the Semantics, Logic, Metaphysics, and Epistemology of Demonstratives and Other Indexicals. In J. Almog, J. Perry, and H. Wettstein (eds.), Themes from Kaplan, New York: Oxford University Press.
Lewis, D. 1987: On the Plurality of Worlds. Oxford & New York: Basil Blackwell (1st published 1986).
Lewis, D. 1999: “Elusive Knowledge,” reprinted in Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology, Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press. (Originally published in The Australasian Journal of Philosophy 74, 1996).)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Malec, M. A Priori knowledge contextualised and Benacerraf’s dilemma. Acta Anal 19, 31–44 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12136-004-1010-y
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12136-004-1010-y