Naturalism in Epistemology

Naturalism in epistemology, as elsewhere, has a long history. But it is only relatively recently that it has gone by just that name and received so much focused attention. As in other areas of philosophy, questions concerning naturalism’s merits are central to recent epistemological debate. While many epistemological theories and positions are agreed by all to exemplify, or to run counter to, naturalistic epistemology (NE), it is difficult to characterize precisely, since “naturalism” is used to refer to a range of positions, commitments, and so on. NE, then, is more a movement or general approach to epistemological theorizing than it is some substantive thesis (/theses). Broadly speaking, however, proponents of NE take the attitude that there should be a close connection between philosophical investigation—here, of such things as knowledge, justification, rationality, etc.—and empirical (“natural”) science. Beyond that, and as detailed below, proponents of NE diverge in how they conceive of that close connection, exactly—whether and to what extent they advocate use of empirical methods, or insist upon the relevance of the results of certain areas of empirical study, or invoke certain recognized “natural”properties, relations, and so on, in their accounts of certain central epistemic phenomena. So too, proponents of NE differ in which science(s) they take to be relevant to epistemological theory—whether it is psychology and/or cognitive science, ethology, cultural studies, evolutionary theory, social theory, or some other area of empirical investigation.
NE can also be understood as an attempt to redress the perceived shortcomings of what’s typically termed “traditional epistemology” (TE).[1] Here too, different naturalists are motivated by different concerns. TE is variously seen as unduly and unprofitably concerned with skeptical worries; as too much the product of “armchair” (perhaps a priori, and maybe ultimately idiosyncratic) theorizing; as too geared towards the study of “our concepts” of various states and properties and not concerned enough with the epistemological phenomena themselves; as operating without attention to the conditions in which knowledge (for example) is actually produced and/or shared, the limits, contours and history of actual human cognition, and so on.
Given that the differences amongst naturalistic theories make it difficult to give a precise characterization of NE, it is not surprising that the division between NE and TE is itself something of an idealization. Of course, just as there are clear instances where a theory belongs on one or the other side of this divide, there are some real differences between NE and TE broadly understood. Nonetheless, many specific epistemological theories incorporate elements of each, and so any neat bifurcation of extant epistemologies into NE and TE is bound to sacrifice accuracy for precision.
The discussion to follow describes some of the dominant claims, commitments, and forms that naturalistic epistemology, so understood, has taken, and specific examples of such naturalistic views. As well, both the principal motivations for and the major objections to NE will be discussed. Finally (and, in some cases, along the way), we will briefly consider the relation between NE and some other recent and important subjects, positions, and developments—some of them just as controversial as NE itself. These include externalism, experimental philosophy, social epistemology, feminist epistemology, evolutionary epistemology, and debates about the nature of (epistemic) rationality.

[size=30]1. General Orientation

Contemporary discussions of NE tend to take as their starting point Quine’s seminal 1969 paper, “Epistemology Naturalized”. Before considering that work, some background will help to give a sense of the general character of the traditional approach to epistemological theorizing, the various themes running through NE, and the pre-Quinean history of NE. Here, the natural starting point is Descartes, who is widely regarded as “the founder of modern epistemology” (Sosa 2003: 554; cf. BonJour 2002: 6).

1.1 Some key features of TE

Descartes’ avowed goal was to “start again right from the foundations” (First Meditation, 1988 [1641]: 17) of science—i.e., to legitimate the foundations of inquiry per se, and to show how we ought to conduct ourselves epistemically in order to achieve knowledge and avoid error. The realization of the possibility of massive error—made vivid through the device of certain skeptical possibilities—of course had a significant influence over Descartes’ theorizing. His specific recommendation, arrived at through careful reflection on his own ideas, was a particularly strong foundationalism designed to rule out the possibility of error: one should “hold back [one’s] assent from opinions which are not completely certain and indubitable” (ibid.), and in fact treat as false anything that could possibly be false. On the other hand, Descartes says, “I…seem to be able to lay it down as a general rule that whatever I perceive very clearly and distinctly is true” (ibid.: 87). So long as one carefully apportions one’s judgment to the degree of “clarity and distinctness” of one’s ideas, given God’s providence, one can proceed in confidence that one is not theorizing in error.
Very few current practitioners of TE endorse Descartes’ arguments and positive views. Very few, for example, accept his infallibilism about what knowledge requires, and many regard Descartes’ arguments as manifesting an unfortunate circularity. Nonetheless, Descartes’ work exemplifies certain assumptions about the epistemological enterprise that many epistemologists have retained, even if only implicitly, and that have come to be closely associated with TE. Taking our cue from Crumley (2009: 185; Goldman 1986: 1–2, and Pacherie 2002: 300–301, make similar suggestions), we can identify the most salient such assumptions as follows:
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(a)Much of traditional theorizing about central epistemic notions, such as knowledge, justification, evidence, and so on, has been carried out a priori: careful reflection, rather than empirical investigation, is taken to be the proper method to arrive at accurate understanding of the true epistemological principles and facts.
(b)Second, and relatedly, is a view of epistemology as autonomous: in terms of both its methods and its subject matter, epistemology is independent of the sciences. Hence, for example, there’s nothing the sciences can tell us that will, or could, inform our answers to the distinctively philosophical questions epistemologists ask (“what is knowledge?”, “is knowledge even possible?”, etc.). On the contrary, if anything, it is epistemology that’s prior to the sciences—advances in the former can aid and constrain the latter, but not the reverse.
(c)Third—and again, relatedly—a distinctive feature of traditional epistemology is said to be its concern with normative matters. By this, it is usually meant at least that epistemological facts—whether a belief is justified or rational, e.g.—are evaluative, and not purely descriptive: to say that a belief is justified, for example, is to say that it is good, correct, orpermissible, to hold it from an epistemic point of view. (Compare Chisholm’s (1977) calling “justified” a “term of epistemic appraisal”.) Many proponents of TE regard epistemology as being normative in respect of being prescriptive as well—i.e., telling us how we should form our beliefs, and so on. This connects with the idea, popular within TE, that epistemology is in the business of offering useful advice, and so as having “an important meliorative dimension” (Kitcher 1992: 64; cf. Wrenn 2006: 60).

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To Crumley’s list, we might, given its historical importance, add the following:
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(d)While there is hardly agreement as to how best to do so, among the central tasks of epistemology as traditionally practiced has been to articulate a plausible response toskepticism—i.e., to defend the ordinary commitment that we have, or are reasonable in taking ourselves to have, a wide range of justified beliefs and/or a decent stock of knowledge.

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(a)–(d), again, are some of the central features of TE, as it is usually understood. Obviously, there are natural connections among them. For instance, insofar as the autonomy of epistemology (b)is thought to amount to its priority—insofar as it approaches the status of “first philosophy”, in the manner Descartes supposed—a concern with (d) will be natural, even obligatory. So too, one might think that the autonomy of epistemology (b) is owing to its (partly) normative subject matter (c), and/or its distinctive methodology (a), as compared with the purely descriptive concerns and a posteriori methods of science. And so on. However, the theories falling within TE are, once again, a varied lot; and those sympathetic to TE at times pull these features apart, emphasizing commitment to them to varying degrees and in various ways.[/size]

Naturalism in Epistemology

[size=30]1. General Orientation

1.1 Some key features of TE

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Naturalism in Epistemology