Alvin Goldman
Encyclopedia
Alvin Ira Goldman is an American professor of Philosophy
at Rutgers University
in New Jersey
. He previously taught at the University of Michigan
and at the University of Arizona
. He earned his PhD
from Princeton University
and is married to Holly Smith, a well known ethicist, former administrator, and current professor at Rutgers University. He has done influential work on a wide range of philosophical topics, but his principal areas of research are epistemology, philosophy of mind
, and cognitive science
.
More recently, Goldman has focused his epistemological efforts to questions of social epistemology
and has applied his approach to epistemology to such issues as the law (especially evidence), voting and media. He attempts to provide (in his words) a less radical view of social epistemology than those suggested by cultural theorists
and postmodernists
under that name. His approach uses tools of analytic philosophy
especially formal epistemology
to analyze problems in social knowledge. Some of this work is summarized in his book Knowledge in a Social World.
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. He previously taught at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and at the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
. He earned his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
and is married to Holly Smith, a well known ethicist, former administrator, and current professor at Rutgers University. He has done influential work on a wide range of philosophical topics, but his principal areas of research are epistemology, philosophy of mind
Philosophy of mind
Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind-body problem, i.e...
, and cognitive science
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...
.
Action Theory
Goldman's early book, A Theory of Human Action (a revised version of his Ph.D. thesis), presents a systematic way of classifying and relating the many actions we perform at any time. Its influence was broad and can be found in, among other writings, John Rawls' book A Theory of Justice. Goldman's early work in action theory soon gave way to work in other branches of philosophy, most influentially epistemology.Epistemology
Goldman is most well known for a series of naturalistic accounts of knowledge and justified belief. The first of these appeared in his paper "A Causal Theory of Knowing", according to which knowledge amounts to true belief appropriately caused by the fact that makes it true. Soon after, he replaced this account with a different one, according to which knowledge amounts to true belief that is produced by a reliable process. Various problems dogged this new account and others that Goldman published after it. Nonetheless, those accounts have been perhaps the most influential theories of knowledge and justified belief produced in the last half-century. They offer a new approach to their topics - an approach that appeals to naturalistic notions like causation and reliability as opposed to normative notions like permissibility and obligation. The use of such naturalistic notions in place of normative notions was fairly distinctive to Goldman's work when he wrote it, but has since come to be fairly common among analytic epistemologists. This trend is due in no small part to Goldman's own writings.More recently, Goldman has focused his epistemological efforts to questions of social epistemology
Social epistemology
Social epistemology is a broad set of approaches to the study of knowledge, all of which construe human knowledge as a collective achievement. Another way of positioning social epistemology is as the study of the social dimensions of knowledge. One of the enduring difficulties with defining social...
and has applied his approach to epistemology to such issues as the law (especially evidence), voting and media. He attempts to provide (in his words) a less radical view of social epistemology than those suggested by cultural theorists
Culture theory
Culture theory is the branch of anthropology and semiotics that seeks to define the heuristic concept of culture in operational and/or scientific terms....
and postmodernists
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
under that name. His approach uses tools of analytic philosophy
Analytic philosophy
Analytic philosophy is a generic term for a style of philosophy that came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century...
especially formal epistemology
Formal epistemology
Formal epistemology uses formal methods from decision theory, logic, probability theory and computability theory to elucidate epistemic problems. Work in this area spans several academic fields, including philosophy, computer science, economics, and statistics...
to analyze problems in social knowledge. Some of this work is summarized in his book Knowledge in a Social World.