• Introduction
• Research questions
• Epistemology research group
• Research events
• Recent research events
• People
• Research affiliations
• Postgraduates and placement

Introduction

Epistemology is one of the central areas of philosophy and also one of the most exciting in terms of the contemporary philosophical landscape. The Department of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh has a unique wealth of research talent in this area and as a result epistemology forms part of one of its five research ‘clusters' which represent its research strengths. In particular, it has faculty members which are interested in such epistemological issues as scepticism (including its history), epistemic value, contextualism, epistemic responsibility, perceptual knowledge, rationality, the nature of cognitive of processes, and virtue epistemology. The epistemology research cluster at Edinburgh regularly hosts research events in this area, such as international conferences, workshops, reading groups and the hosting of visiting scholars (for more details, see below). It also has substantial research links with the other four research clusters in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh: ancient philosophy, early modern philosophy, mind and cognition, and ethics.

Research questions

Here are some research issues that are of particular interest to those working in epistemology at the University of Edinburgh: 

Epistemology research group

The Epistemology research group meets regularly to discuss issues in contemporary epistemology. For more details, click here. This research group also hosts a blog, Epistemology @ Edinburgh, and a research resources webpage. Finally, there is also a regular Epistemology Reading Group.

Research events

Conferences 09-10

• 2010 Episteme Conference: Cognitive Ecology, June 2nd-4th, 2010.

The following conferences are presently in the planning stage:

• A conference on ancient epistemology, provisionally scheduled for 2011;
• A conference on the epistemological ramifications of embodied cognition, provisionally scheduled for 2012.

Workshops 09-10

• Epistemology Workshop, December 13th, 2009.
• Xmas Epistemology-Fest workshop, December 11th, 2009.
• Epistemology Workshop, November 29th, 2009.
• Epistemology Workshop, October 24th, 2009.

Visiting scholars 09-10

• Professor Claudine Tiercelin (Institut Jean-Nicod) will be visiting in September 2009.
• Professor Stephen Grimm (Fordham) will be visiting in October 2009.
• Dr. Anne Meylan (Geneva) will be visiting in November 2009.
• Dr. Mikkel Gerken (Copenhagen) will be visiting in December 2009.
• Dr. Lars Gundersen (Aarhus) will be visiting in January 2010.
• Dr. Miranda Fricker (Birkbeck) will be visiting in January 2010.
• Dr. Andy Hamilton (Durham) will be visiting in February 2010.
• Prof. Rene van Woudenberg (Amsterdam VU) will be visiting in February 2010.
• Prof. Allan Hazlett (Fordham) will be visiting in March 2010.
• Prof. Dorit Bar-On (UNC, Chapel Hill) will be visiting in March 2010.
• Prof. Igal Kvart (Jerusalem) will be visiting in May 2010.
• Prof. Robert Audi (Notre Dame) will be visiting in July as a 2010 Scots Philosophical Club Cenntennial Fellow, and also to deliver the 2010 Nature of Knowledge lecture.

Visiting graduate students 09-10

• Matthew Mullins (Northwestern)
• Fernando Broncano (LOGOS, Girona)

Recent research events

Workshops 08-09

• Contextualism Workshop, May 11th, 2009.
• Virtue Epistemology, April 22nd, 2009.
• Graduate Workshop in Epistemology, April 13th, 2009.
• Graduate Workshop in Epistemology, March 29th 2009.
• Graduate Workshop in Social Epistemology, February 28th 2009.
• Graduate Workshop in Epistemology, January 31st 2009.
• Graduate Workshop in Epistemology, December 20th 2008.

Visiting scholars 08-09

• Dr. Martijn Blaauw (Amsterdam) will be visiting in December 2008.
• Professor Michael Lynch (UConn) will be visiting in January 2009.
• Professor Pascal Engel (Geneva) will be visiting in March 2009.
• Professor Steven Hales (Bloomsberg) will be visiting in April 2009.
• Professor Ernest Sosa (Rutgers) will be visiting in April 2009 to deliver the 2009 Nature of Knowledge lecture.
• Professor Cheryl Misak (Toronto) will be visiting in June 2009.
• Professor Axel Gelfert (Singapore) will be visiting in June-August 2009.
• Professor Bruce Russell (Wayne State) will be visiting in August 2009.

Visiting graduate students 08-09

• Matthew Mullins (Northwestern)
• Julien Dutant (Geneva)
• Anne Meylan (Geneva)
• Esben Petersen (South Denmark)

Conferences 07-08

• 'Knowledge and Understanding', November 13th 2007.
• 'Scepticism', May 31st-June 1st, 2008.

Workshops 07-08

• 'Epistemological Conceptions of the Open Society', 8th April, 2008.
• 'Scepticism and Basic Knowledge', May 30th, 2008.
• 'Epistemology', May 15th 2007.

Visiting scholars 07-08

• Professor Ernest Sosa (Rutgers) will be the 2007 Visiting Epistemology Professor this November.
• Professor Michael Williams (Johns Hopkins) will be visiting in November 2007.
• Professor Michael Lynch (UConn) will be visiting in December 2007.
• Professor Alvin Goldman (Rutgers) will be delivering the 2008 Nature of Knowledge lecture.
• Dr. Maria Pournari, Univerity of Ioannina, Greece.

Visiting graduate students 07-08

• Trent Dougherty (Rochester).
• Markus Hess (Constance).
• Luis Rodrigues (Barcelona).
• Anne Meylan (Geneva).
• Akos Gyarmathy (Budapest) .

Reading groups 07-08

• Autumn 2007: There was a reading group on Ernest Sosa's new book A Virtue Epistemology: Apt Belief and Reflective Knowledge (Oxford UP, 2007). Click here for more details.
• Spring 2008: There was a reading group on Ralph Wedgwood's new book, The Nature of Normativity (Oxford University Press, 2007), in conjunction with the Ethics research cluster. Click here for more details.

People

The core members of faculty who work in epistemology are: 

Dr. Chrisman joined the department in August 2006 after finishing his Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  In conjunction with his work in ethics, he is interested in the nature of epistemic normativity and the semantics of knowledge attributions. His publications in epistemology include 'From Epistemic Contextualism to Epistemic Expressivism' (Philosophical Studies, 2007) and 'Ought to Believe' (Journal of Philosophy, forthcoming).

Dr. Kallestrup joined the department in September 2005 and is also an associate fellow of Arche at the university of St. Andrews.  In epistemology he has worked extensively on epistemological contextualism, scepticism, and various epistemic paradoxes. His publications in epistemology include 'Knowledge-Wh and the Problem of Convergent Knowledge' (Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, forthcoming). He is currently working on a monograph which examines, amongst other things, various epistemological implications of semantic externalism.

Professor Pritchard joined the department in July 2007. He has worked extensively in epistemology, covering all the main topics in this area, including: the problem of scepticism, the epistemic externalism/internalism distinction; the rationality of religious belief; testimony; the relationship between epistemic and content externalism; virtue epistemology; epistemic value; modal epistemology; the history of scepticism; and epistemological contextualism. His publications include Epistemic Luck (Oxford UP, 2005) and What Is This Thing Called Knowledge? (Routledge, 2006).

Professor Wright (NYU/St. Andrews) is an honorary professorial fellow in the Department. While he has published in all the major areas of philosophy, his main focus in recent work has been on issues in epistemology. His recent books include Rails to Infinity (Harvard UP, 2001), and Saving the Differences (Harvard UP, 2003).

In addition, there are a number of other members of faculty who are interesting in epistemology and epistemology-related topics, including Matthew Nudds (perception), Alasdair Richmond (early modern epistemology), Jeff Ketland (truth), Natalie Gold (formal epistemology), and Dory Scaltsas (ancient epistemology).

Research affiliations

There are research affiliations between the Epistemology research cluster here at Edinburgh and other research bodies.

Professor Pritchard is one of the principal applicants (with Crispin Wright and Jessica Brown) on the Arche Basic Knowledge Project and is also an Associate Fellow of Arche. In addition, he is one of the leaders (with Rene van Woudenberg and Igor Douven) of the Knowledge, Belief and Normativity Project and he is on the steering committee (with Pascal Engel, Igor Douven, Rene van Woudenberg, Klemens Kappell and Erik Olsson) of the new European Epistemology Network. He was also one of the founders of the Knowledge, Mind and Value Project.

Dr. Kallestrup is an Arche Associate Fellow. In addition, he was a fellow on the NAMICONA Project.

Postgraduates and placement

Current research students

There are a number of postgraduate researchers interested in epistemology-related topics at Edinburgh, including:

• Evan Butts (PhD)
• Tony Bolos (PhD)
• John Bray (PhD)
• Jamie Collin (PhD)
• Rachel Fairnie (PhD)
• Georgi Gardiner (MSc by Research)
• Andrea Giananti (PhD)
• Emma Gordon (PhD)
• Eric Kerr (PhD)
• Tae Kim (MSc by Research)
• Joseph Kuntz (PhD)
• Christos Kyriacou (PhD)
• Carl Messenger (PhD)
• John Ostrowick (PhD)
• Orestis Palermos (PhD)
• Joanna Pollock (PhD)
• Christopher Ranalli (MSc by Research)
• Shane Ryan (PhD)
• Claudio Salvatore (PhD)
• Diana Stewart (PhD)
• Eusebio Waweru (PhD)
• Nikolaus Willi (MSc Philosophy, with specialisation in epistemology)
• Sam Wilkinson (PhD)

Visiting research students

At any one time, there are also several visiting postgraduate researchers working on epistemology-related topics (the current list of visiting postgraduate students who meet this description can be found above). If you are interested in doing research in epistemology at the University of Edinburgh then contact Duncan Pritchard who will be pleased to help.

Recently completed PhD students and graduate placement

So far we have had two PhD students from this research cluster complete their degrees, and both of them have gone on to good academic positions:

We are committed to graduate placement in this area, as part of our general Departmental placement strategy for Philosophy postgraduates. You can find out more about our placement strategy here.

 

Last updated: February 8th 2010 by Duncan Pritchard.