The Nature and Value of Knowledge: Three Investigations

by Duncan Pritchard, Alan Millar, Adrian Haddock

This volume comprises three distinct investigations into the relationship between the nature and the value of knowledge. Each is written by one of the authors in consultation with the other two. 'Knowledge and Understanding' (by Duncan Pritchard) critically examines virtue-theoretic responses to the problem of the value of knowledge, and argues that the finally valuable cognitive state is not knowledge but understanding. 'Knowledge and Recognition' (by Alan Millar) develops an account of knowledge in which the idea of a recognitional ability plays a prominent role, and argues that this account enables us better to understand knowledge and its value. 'Knowledge and Action' (by Adrian Haddock) argues for an account of knowledge and justification which explains why knowledge is valuable, and enables us to make sense of the knowledge we have of our intentional actions.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Duncan Pritchard FRSE is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, UK. His main research area is epistemology, and he has published widely in this field, including the books Epistemic Luck (2005), Knowledge (2009), The Nature and Value of Knowledge (with A. Millar & A. Haddock, 2010), and Epistemological Disjunctivism (2012). In 2007 he was awarded a Phillip Leverhulme Prize for his research. In 2011 he was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Reviews

[Kramer Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was mostly unfamiliar with the sorts of approaches to knowledge developed by Millar and Haddock in this book, although quite familiar with Pritchard's. Despite this, I found all the approaches interesting and, in various respects, independently plausible.

I will note, however, that although I found Pritchard's section incredibly lucid, I struggled significantly with understanding Millar's knowledge-first approach, and also found Haddock's conception of knowledge quite challenging. This may be because I was previously unfamiliar with these sorts of approaches, but it definitely made it harder to get a grip on the views being expressed.

Still, this seems to be an interesting and worthwhile read for anyone interested in analyses of knowledge or value theory.