Hilary Kornblith
Encyclopedia
Hilary Kornblith is an American Professor
of philosophy
at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
, USA, and one of contemporary epistemology's most prominent proponents of naturalized epistemology
. Kornblith received his B.A. from SUNY Buffalo in 1975 and his PhD from Cornell University
in 1980, where he studied under Sydney Shoemaker
and Richard Boyd
. Before coming to University of Massachusetts in 2003, Kornblith taught at the University of Vermont, where he also chaired the department from 1991 to 1997. His research interests include epistemology, metaphysics
and the philosophy of mind
. Apart from naturalized epistemology, his most recent work includes the role of intuitions in philosophical theorizing, the conflicts between internalism and externalism
in epistemology, and the mental states of non-human animals.
, is a sufficiently robust and inductively valuable category to qualify as a natural kind. Consequently, he claims, the proper method for epistemology is empirical, contrary to what has been assumed by most epistemologists, who traditionally have proceeded by way of conceptual analysis and the probing of intuitions rather than by way of empirical investigation.
provides the correct semantics not only for natural kinds but also for artifactual kinds - a claim that, if true, would lend plausibility to the idea that empirical investigation provides a promising philosophical method, quite independently of whether or not a majority of the objects of philosophical inquiry turn out to be natural kinds.
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of philosophy
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 the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
, USA, and one of contemporary epistemology's most prominent proponents of naturalized epistemology
Naturalized epistemology
Naturalized epistemology is a collection of philosophic views concerned with the theory of knowledge that emphasize the role of natural scientific methods. This shared emphasis on scientific methods of studying knowledge shifts focus to the empirical processes of knowledge acquisition and away from...
. Kornblith received his B.A. from SUNY Buffalo in 1975 and his PhD from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in 1980, where he studied under Sydney Shoemaker
Sydney Shoemaker
Sydney Shoemaker is an American philosopher. Until his retirement, he was a Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University. He holds a PhD from Cornell and BA from Reed. In 1971, he delivered the John Locke Lectures at Oxford University...
and Richard Boyd
Richard Boyd
Richard Newell Boyd is an American philosopher who has spent most of his career at Cornell University, though he also taught briefly at Harvard University, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the University of California, Berkeley...
. Before coming to University of Massachusetts in 2003, Kornblith taught at the University of Vermont, where he also chaired the department from 1991 to 1997. His research interests include epistemology, metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
and the 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...
. Apart from naturalized epistemology, his most recent work includes the role of intuitions in philosophical theorizing, the conflicts between internalism and externalism
Internalism and externalism
Internalism and externalism are two opposing ways of explaining various subjects in several areas of philosophy. These include human motivation, knowledge, justification, meaning and truth. The distinction arises in many areas of debate with similar but distinct meanings...
in epistemology, and the mental states of non-human animals.
Naturalistic account of inductive inference
In his 1993 book "Inductive Inference and Its Natural Ground" (MIT Press, 1993) Kornblith argues that inductive knowledge is possible by virtue of a fit between our innate psychological capacities and the causal structure of the world. Following Boyd, Kornblith takes the causal structure in question to be a structure of natural kinds, i.e., of homeostatically clustered properties. Such natural kinds provide a natural ground for inductive inference by virtue of the fact that our innate inferential tendencies (as revealed by empirical psychology) are structured in a way that assumes a world of natural kinds, and, thereby, tend to provide us with accurate beliefs about the world in environment populated by such natural kinds.Knowledge as a natural kind
Kornblith is perhaps most well known for his defense of the view that knowledge is a natural kind. This claim is defended in his book "Knowledge and its Place in Nature" (Oxford University Press, 2002) where Kornblith argues that knowledge, as it is being studied in cognitive ethologyCognitive ethology
The fusion of cognitive science and classical ethology into cognitive ethology "emphasizes observing animals under more-or-less natural conditions, with the objective of understanding the evolution, adaptation , causation, and development of the species-specific behavioral repertoire" - .- Relation...
, is a sufficiently robust and inductively valuable category to qualify as a natural kind. Consequently, he claims, the proper method for epistemology is empirical, contrary to what has been assumed by most epistemologists, who traditionally have proceeded by way of conceptual analysis and the probing of intuitions rather than by way of empirical investigation.
Against conceptual analysis
Kornblith's case for knowledge as a natural kind provides the basis for his critique of philosophy as conceptual analysis. According to Kornblith, the proper object of philosophical analysis is not concepts, but the phenomena picked out by those concepts. At the same time, Kornblith's work in semantics indicates that his claims about conceptual analysis can, in fact, be motivated independently of his view on knowledge as a natural kind. In particular, he has argued that semantic externalismSemantic externalism
In the philosophy of language, semantic externalism is the view that the meaning of a term is determined, in whole or in part, by factors external to the speaker. According to an externalist position, one can claim without contradiction that two speakers could be in exactly the same brain state at...
provides the correct semantics not only for natural kinds but also for artifactual kinds - a claim that, if true, would lend plausibility to the idea that empirical investigation provides a promising philosophical method, quite independently of whether or not a majority of the objects of philosophical inquiry turn out to be natural kinds.
Books
- Knowledge and its Place in Nature, Oxford University Press, 2002.
- Inductive Inference and its Natural Ground, MIT Press, 1993.
- Epistemology: Internalism and Externalism, (Ed.), Blackwell Publishers Inc., 2001.
- Naturalizing Epistemology, (Ed.), MIT Press, 1985. 2nd Edition, 1994.
Articles
- "Belief in the Face of Controversy," in T. Warfield and R. Feldman, eds., Disagreement, Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
- "What Reflective Endorsement Cannot Do," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 2010, 80 (1), 1-19.
- "A Reliabilist Solution to the Problem of Promiscuous Bootstrapping," Analysis, 2009, 69 (2).
- "The Naturalistic Project in Epistemology: Where Do We Go from Here?," in C. Mi and R. Chen, (Eds.), Naturalized Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, Rodopi (Amsterdam), 2007, 39-59.
- "Naturalism and Intuitions," Grazer Philosophische Studien, 2007, 72, 27-49.
- "How to Refer to Artifacts," in E. Margolis and S. Laurence, (Eds.), Creations of the Mind: Essays on Artifacts and their Representation, Oxford University Press, 2007, 138-149.
- "The Metaphysical Status of Knowledge," Philosophical Issues, 2007, 17 (1), 145–164.
- "Appeals to Intuition and the Ambitions of Epistemology," in S. Hetherington, (Ed.), Epistemology Futures, Oxford University Press, 2006, 10-25.
- "The Role of Intuition in Philosophical Inquiry," in M. DePaul and W. Ramsey, (Eds.), Rethinking Intuition, Rowman and Littlefield, 1998, 129-141.
- "Referring to Artifacts," Philosophical Review, LXXXIX, 1980, 109-114.