Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology

by Jonathan Dancy

Offers the student a well-organized presentation of material relating to scepticism, to various philosophical accounts of knowledge and justification, to theories of perception, and more.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Reference

259 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 1985

Reviews

[Richard Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good overview of Contemporary Epistemology - but don't think it is a beginners guide! It is intricate and at times deep, although I felt at times that Dancy's writing style makes it more difficult to understand what are tricky but in philosophical terms not desperately difficult concepts. A few bits I had to read several times to understand. But I did learn from the book (and did very well in my Epistemology exams, in no small part to what I learnt from this book). It is not a completely unbiased guide to all sides of the arguments - but Dancy does make it clear that he is expressing in many parts his views.

2019 Update: in my ongoing project to reread significant philosophy texts I used in my undergraduate philosophy degree before I start studying again in September I've just revisited this one. It still is a good guide, although it is quite long winded and the style of writing in the 1980s is a little different from that used by many writers today. Reading Dancy is like listening to an old professor, with an occasional dry wit drone on! But the contents are fundamentally good.

2021 Update My third read of this book - mostly because it is a good guide to epistemology and that is an important part of my philosophy studies. It has taken me an age to read this time, not helped by living in another country for 6 weeks and forgetting to take it with me. I still rate this book, and find it interesting as a benchmark of my philosophical studies. What was once a very hard read, is not much more straightforward.

[Pukkov Garrigós · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy recomendado para iniciarse y acercarse a la epistemología contemporánea. Recomiendo antes tener un previo conocimiento de lo que estudia la epistemología en general y un breve estudio de la epistemología clásica.

[Michael Dorais · Rating 3 out of 5]

A while back I read the chapters that the author recommended as a first read. Recently I have picked up and read the remaining chapters one-by-one every so often (chs. 6, 7, 14, 15).
This has been a good introduction to to the broad issues in epistemology and a dialog between the various positions. Some time after I finish chapter 15, I intend to go back over this book in more detail just as I will with the couple of introductory books on metaphysics. I would recommend this book if you already have had some introductory philosophy that includes some epistemology, and have sampled of some readings in philosophy that are not to difficult. That will better prepare you for the dense presentation of material in this book.

[Enrico Ragusa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is dense of concepts and very satisfying on an intellectual standpoint. However, I don't consider it an introductory book for beginners: considering I'm not a native English speaker, I would rate this book as my most difficult read. It covers several topics and phylosophers, but it doesn't consider a lot more who maybe deserved a mention. I give 5 stars, because I find the topic extremely interesting and the book very relevant to the topic.

[Stephen Bedard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, solid introduction to epistemology.

[Amir Sing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scepticism

[Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dancy se explica bastante bien al dar una panorámica de la epistemología contemporánea, pero el estilo analítico puede asustar a los no familiarizados. Aunque es una introducción, en ocasiones se vuelve muy denso, por lo que yo lo recomendaría para aquellos que ya se han adentrado un poco en la epistemología en lugar de a los completamente neófitos en la materia. Si logran superar estas dificultades, se verán recompensados.

[Nat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is pretty much a study guide for the M&E Oxford final exam.

[Ferlin Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a great introductory reading and will surely give it another read soon