Author Description
The goal of inquiry is to acquire knowledge of truths about the world. In this book, Jason Stanley argues that knowing how to do something amounts to knowing a truth about the world. When you learned how to swim, what happened is that you learned some truths about swimming. Knowledge of these truths is what gave you knowledge of how to swim. Something similar occurred with every other activity that you now know how to do, such as riding a bicycle or cooking a meal. Of course, when you learned how to swim, you didn't learn just any truth about swimming. You learned a special kind of truth about swimming, one that answers the question, 'How could you swim?' Know How develops an account of the kinds of answers to questions, knowledge of which explains skilled action. Drawing on work in epistemology, philosophy of mind, ethics, action theory, philosophy of language, linguistic semantics, and cognitive neuroscience, Stanley presents a powerful case that it is our success as inquirers that explains our capacity for skilful engagement with the world.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
Jason Stanley investigates the fundamental nature of practical knowledge, arguing that knowing how to perform an action is equivalent to possessing propositional knowledge of specific truths. Drawing on his background in philosophy of language and epistemology, Stanley challenges the traditional distinction between 'knowing how' and 'knowing that.' He constructs a framework where skilled action is explained by an agent's grasp of answers to specific questions, effectively bridging the gap between intellectual inquiry and physical performance.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- An analysis of the relationship between propositional knowledge and skilled action
- A linguistic and semantic framework for understanding 'how-to' questions
- Integration of research from cognitive neuroscience and action theory
Scope Limits
- The text does not provide a practical guide for skill acquisition or coaching
- It does not focus on the sociological or cultural aspects of expertise
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Philosophers and academics frequently cite this work as a rigorous contribution to the intellectualist tradition in epistemology. Readers often note the high level of technical density in the prose, which requires a strong background in analytic philosophy to navigate effectively.
Page Count:
224
Publication Date:
2011-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0191619612
ISBN-13:
9780191619618
Philosophy
Philosophy of
Action theory
Epistemology
Knowledge Theory