Book Review contributions are single-authored or multiple-authored reviews of recent books in the area of social epistemology.
I am grateful for Jonathan Matheson’s recent review (Matheson 2020) of my book, Disagreement, Deference, and Religious Commitment (Pittard 2019). Matheson’s excellent summary reflects a very careful reading, and his critical commentary offers important objections that deserve reflection and response…. Read More ›
Reviewing Steve Fuller’s book, Post-Truth: Knowledge as a Power Game, from the Greek island of Zakynthos, in the middle of a global pandemic is a surreal experience…. [please read below the rest of the article]. Article Citation: Hewitt, Des. 2020…. Read More ›
Imagine a philosopher steeped in scholasticism reacting to the Newtonian world picture: Newton’s Principia Mathematica, illustrates what can happen when one doesn’t really reflect on the foundations of what one is thinking and claiming …[please read below the rest of… Read More ›
Richard Feldman’s “Reasonable Religious Disagreements” launched debates about the epistemic significance of disagreement that have been a dominant point of discussion in epistemology as of late. While most of these debates have been concerned with disagreement more generally, Feldman’s original… Read More ›
Bobby Shaftoe, one of the protagonists of Neal Stephenson’s sprawling epic Cryptonomicon, learns that some tools have infrastructure: the systems necessary for their successful operation far exceed what any one individual could hope to control… [please read below the rest… Read More ›
In this sense, the present review essay is a form of critique, just as the anthology under review comprises of fourteen critiques and as a whole is a meta-critique. In philosophical circles, critique dates back to Socrates whose dialogues are… Read More ›
Alexander Rosenberg’s newest book, How History Gets Things Wrong. The Neuroscience of our Addiction to Stories, is a frustrating read. After presenting an overview of the book, I explain why. I end by suggesting a more promising route…. [please read… Read More ›
The original title of the book was On Limit. My editor resisted the title; it wasn’t searchable, you know. But this remains the book’s central theme. I see the play of infinity and limit as the central dynamic of our… Read More ›
Rosenberg begins by distinguishing between narrative history and other forms of history where historical subjects are treated in ways shaped by social science research. It is the first type of history, which offers explanations of historical events and the actions… Read More ›
I am grateful for this opportunity to discuss Li Zehou’s work in this interdisciplinary forum, particularly because Li’s ideas are well suited to a cross-cultural and multi-perspectival approach. His bold ideas seek to bridge cultural traditions; yet their suggestiveness is… Read More ›