Philosophy long sought to set knowledge on a firm foundation, through derivation of indubitable truths by infallible
rules. For want of such truths and rules, the enterprise foundered. Nevertheless, foundationalism's heirs continue
their forbears' quest, seeking security against epistemic misfortune, while their detractors typically espouse
unbridled coherentism or facile relativism. Maintaining that neither stance is tenable, Catherine Elgin devises
a via media between the absolute and the arbitrary, reconceiving the nature, goals, and methods of epistemology.
In Considered Judgment, she argues for a reconception that takes reflective equilibrium as the standard of rational
acceptability. A system of thought is in reflective equilibrium when its components are reasonable in light of
one another, and the account they comprise is reasonable in light of our antecedent convictions about the subject
it concerns.
Many epistemologists now concede that certainty is a chimerical goal. But they continue to accept the traditional
conception of epistemology's problematic. Elgin suggests that in abandoning the quest for certainty we gain opportunities
for a broader epistemological purview--one that comprehends the arts and does justice to the sciences. She contends
that metaphor, fiction, emotion, and exemplification often advance understanding in science as well as in art.
The range of epistemology is broader and more variegated than is usually recognized. Tenable systems of thought
are neither absolute nor arbitrary. Although they afford no guarantees, they are good in the way of belief.
Requirements
Blueprint
Strict Strictures
Lower Standards
Meaning
Causality
Subjunctive Support
Collapse
Ch. III. Knowledge by Consensus
The Social Construction of Knowledge
Games People Play
Playing for Real
The Inquiry Game
Puzzle Solving
Widening the Field
Diverging Paths
Normalizing Relations
Does Charity End at Home?
Summing Up
What We Do
Two Concepts of Rules
Ch. IV. The Merits of Equilibrium
Initial Tenability
Reflective Equilibrium
Going Public
Bootstrapping
Change in Focus: From Knowledge to Understanding
The Growth of Understanding
Judgment Calls
Deeper Conflicts
Restrictions on Relativism
Ch. V. The Heart Has Its Reasons
Feelings
Frames of Mind
Tenability
Emotional Honesty
Classification
Emotion and the Range of Epistemology
Ch. VI. Shifting Focus
Telling Instances
Learning from Examples
Fiction in Fact
Fiction's Feedback
What We Learn about What We Know
Getting Perspective
Tenable Fictions
Figurative Functions
Reconfiguration
Summing Up
