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Testimony and Coherence

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Knowing from Words

Part of the book series: Synthese Library ((SYLI,volume 230))

Abstract

Testimony is important both practically and intellectually. We rely on it for our grasp of history, geography, science, and more. We stake our time and fortune, and even our lives, on our beliefs. Which plane to board, what to eat or drink, the instrument readings to accept — all decided through testimony.

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Notes

  1. Cf. H. H. Price, Belief, New York: Humanities Press, 1969, pp. 111–112.

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  2. Personal and Social Knowledge,“ Synthese 73(1987): 87–107; 96–97.

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  3. Testimonial Evidence,“ in Analysis and Metaphysics: Essays in Honor of R.M. Chisholm, ed. Keith Lehrer, Dordrecht: Reidel, 1975 p. 53. I focus here on a disagreement, but there is much to agree with in both Lehrer’s and Ross’s accounts, and I have learned from them both.

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  4. Ibid., pp. 97–98.

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  5. New Essays on Human Understanding, trans. and ed. by P. Remnant and J. Bennett, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1981, Bk. IV, Ch. xv, sec. 4; my emphasis.

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  6. Op. cit., p. 36.

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  7. David Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, ed. Charles W. Hendel, Indianapolis: The Library of Liberal Arts Press, 1955, p. 119.

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  8. Ibid., pp. 120–1.

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  9. For a discussion of this case, see pp. 346–8 of John Hardwig, “Epistemic Dependence,” Journal of Philosophy LXXXII (1985): 335–350.

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  10. Thomas Reid, Inquiry and Essays, ed. R.E. Beanblossom and K. Lehrer, Indianapolis: Hackett, 1983, pp. 93–95.

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  11. This paper grew out of a symposium with Keith Lehrer at the 1988 Oberlin Colloquium. Lehrer’s paper, “Social Knowledge,” was a helpful stimulus, as was the ensuing discussion.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brown University, USA

    Ernest Sosa

Authors
  1. Ernest Sosa
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. All Souls College, Oxford University, UK

    Bimal Krishna Matilal

  2. University of Delhi, India

    Arindam Chakrabarti

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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Sosa, E. (1994). Testimony and Coherence. In: Matilal, B.K., Chakrabarti, A. (eds) Knowing from Words. Synthese Library, vol 230. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2018-2_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2018-2_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4287-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-2018-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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