KNOWING

The aim is to provide some notions and basic tools to enable people to orienteer oneself, also in practical terms, in the vast and intricate domain of contemporary epistemology, particularly bearing in mind students enrolled in economic or scientific programmes. This proposal aims to provide them with a greater epistemological awareness of various aspects of scientific work.

- Knowledge of the main approaches to the problem of knowledge and epistemic justification.
- Ability to identify the practical and theoretical relevance of the problem of knowledge and justification in areas and contexts of research not specifically philosophical (economics, law, artifical intelligence, arts, etc.)

Being and introductory module, it does not require any specific prerequisites.

-The problem of knowledge
-The classic definition of knowledge as justified true belief
-Truth and justification
-Gettier and the crisis of the classic definition
-Replies to Gettier
-Virtue epistemology
-Epistemological externalism and internalism
-Scepticism as an epistemological problem
-Induction and deduction
-Inference to the best explanation
-Epistemology of testimony

1. Epistemology. An Anthology, ed. by E. Sosa and J. Kim, Blackwell, Oxford 2000
2. A good textbook: D. O' Brien, An Introduction to theory of knowledge, Polity, Oxford 2006

The acquisition of principles, concepts, methodological instruments, and theoretical conceptions of contemporary epistemology, shall be assessed with a test consisting of short essay questions.

Accessibility, Disability and Inclusion
Ca' Foscari abides by Italian Law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) regarding support services and accommodation available to students with disabilities. This includes students with mobility, visual, hearing and other disabilities (Law 17/1999), and specific learning impairments (Law 170/2010). If you have a disability or impairment that requires accommodations (i.e., alternate testing, readers, note takers or interpreters) please contact the Disability and Accessibility Offices in Student Services: disabilita@unive.it.

After a brief presentation by the professor, concerning the different study topics, some significant texts from the epistemological literature shall be analysed during subsequent lessons. Reference shall be made to some relevant case-studies; some issues of contemporary epistemological debates shall be discussed and tentatively solved using cooperative methods

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