What are the good epistemology books?

It depends what you're looking for. It really depends what level of difficulty you are looking for. There a lot of great introductions to philosophy that contain a lot of material on epistemology but not many that deal only with epistemology and those that do, are not very interesting.

On the other hand, there are even more academic works on epistemology that would not be accessible to the average reader. Here I will discuss what I think are the two best introductions to philosophy. They contain excellent discussions of epistemology.

Introductions to Philosophy Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy by Simon Blackburn This book is a relatively recent contribution to the set of introductions to philosophy. Simon Blackburn is a very well respected philosopher and this book is very easily read by somebody with no knowledge of philosophy at all. The first chapter in this book is all about epistemology and it is obviously relevant to many of the other chapters.

Also see Truth: A Guide by the same author. Although it is entirely about truth, one cannot discuss truth without making essential and repeated reference to knowledge. Core Questions in Philosophy: A Text with Readings (3rd Edition) by Elliott Sober This was my first introduction to philosophy.

Elliot Sober is an excellent philosophy who mostly writes on philosophy of science and particularly, biology. There is a lot of stuff on epistemology in this book and what sets it apart from a lot of other text books is its inclusion of edited and abridged primary readings. So, once you've read the chapter introducing a topic, you can read a short version of a very important paper or two.

Evaluation Core Questions in Philosophy is a lovely and serious introduction to philosophy and it is very easy to read. Think is also very easy to read although feels slightly less serious in some ways. I would most highly recommend the Sober text but if you are looking for a good holiday read, the Blackburn book might be a little more fun.

A little more serious... If you are looking for something with a little more bite but is somewhat more difficult than the two books above, there are enough books to fill a library. Of inexpressible importance is The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn.

Anything by Richard Rorty is worth looking at also. Sources: www.amazon.com Mikey's Recommendations Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy Amazon List Price: $26.00 Used from: $7.55 Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 16 reviews) Core Questions in Philosophy: A Text with Readings (4th Edition) Amazon List Price: $78.60 Used from: $28.75 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 3 reviews) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Amazon List Price: $13.00 Used from: $5.00 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 99 reviews) Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature Amazon List Price: $27.95 Used from: $10.97 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 8 reviews) .

Some good epistemology books **Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy) by Robert AudiThis book is an excellent and relatively unpartisan account of the classical views of knowledge, where it comes from, and how it is justified. It is also very strong on explaining the reasoning behind these views. It is also extremely frustrating if you come to this subject from a cognitive neuroscience or psychology background hoping to sort out the relationship of scientific theories of brain and mind and the classic epistemological question.

I come to this book not as a philosophy student but as an interested outsider who is accustomed to interdisciplinary accounts relying on science to some extent to help address philosophical questions, and vice versa. With that expectation, this book just does not do a very good job clarifying things in terms of modern science, or even discussing the relationship of classical epistemology with science. Much better books on modern epistemology that at discuss the relationship of classical epistemological questions and testable scientific theories include: "Inquiry and Evidence" by Susan Haack, and Alvin Goldman's work.

Unfortunately, those don't serve as well as an introduction to the reasoning behind the epistemological questions, and they require some background in the basics to appreciate. Michael Williams' "Problems of Knowledge" is another good introduction that some will find a little more accessible that Audi. If you're willing to dig in and deal with learning the foundations of epistemology independently of science, this book seems to be particularly good.

However if you want a good broad overview of what we know about the mind and knowledge right now covering all disciplines, this will definitely dissappoint. **Problems of Knowledge: A Critical Introduction to Epistemology by Michael WilliamsBook DescriptionWhat is epistemology or 'the theory of knowledge'? What is it really about?

Why does it matter? What makes theorising about knowledge 'philosophical'? Why do some philosophers argue that epistemology - perhaps even philosophy itself - is dead?

In this exciting and original introduction, Michael Williams shows how epistemological theorizing is sensitive to a range of questions about the nature, limits, methods, and value of knowing. He pays special attention to the challenge of philosophical scepticism: does our 'knowledge' rest on brute assumptions? Does the rational outlook undermine itself?

Williams explains and criticises all the main contemporary philopsophical perspectives on human knowledge, such as foundationalism, the coherence theory, and 'naturalistic' theories. As an alternative to all of them, he defends his distinctive contextualist approach. While accessible to the undergraduate and general reader, this book is essential reading for all philosophers concerned with the theory of knowledge.

**Epistemology: An Anthology (Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies) by Jaegwon Kim and Ernest Sosa Book DescriptionThis volume represents the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of canonical readings in theory of knowledge. Concentrating on the central topics of the field, it includes many of the most important contributions made in recent decades by several outstanding authors. Topics include skepticism and the Pyrrhonian problematic, the definition of knowledge, and the structure of epistemic justification.

More specific topics may be found epistemology naturalized, contextualism, relativism, externalism vs internalism, foundationalism vs coherentism, and virtue epistemology. It is ideal as a reader for all courses in epistemology. **Knowledge and Its Limits by Timothy WilliamsonBook DescriptionKnowledge and its Limits presents a systematic new conception of knowledge as a fundamental kind of mental state sensitive to the knower's URL1 makes a major contribution to the debate between externalist and internalist philosophies of mind, and breaks radically with the epistemological tradition of analysing knowledge in terms of true belief.

The theory casts light on a wide variety of philosophical issues: the problem of scepticism, the nature of evidence, probability and assertion, the dispute between realism and anti-realism and the paradox of the surprise examination. Williamson relates the new conception to structural limits on knowledge which imply that what can be known never exhausts what is true. The arguments are illustrated by rigorous models based on epistemic logic and probability theory.

The result is a new way of doing epistemology for the twenty-first century. **Epistemology by Richard FeldmanMany of the problems of philosophy are of such broad relevance to human concerns, and so complex in their ramifications, that they are in one form or another perennially present.In the course of time, they yield to philosophical study and may be reexamined by each age in the light of its broader scientific knowledge and deepened ethical and religious experience. Thus, one who approaches the study of philosophy in the hope of understanding the best of what it affords will look for both fundamental interpretations and contemporary achievements.

Sources: http://www.amazon.com/s/102-0623691-0552123?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&index=blended&link%5Fcode=qs&field-keywords=epistemology&sourceid=Mozilla-search .

Kant! If you want to start seriously thinking about Modern Epistemology..start reading Kant's Critique of Pure Reason followed by Critique of Practical Reason and then Critique of Judgement..these are NOT easy books to read but if you take the TIME to go over all three books at least 3 or more times..a whole new world of understanding will slowly open up to you...it is truly a great adventure.. Enjoy! LB..

In our current course on Western Philosophy, we read Plato's Theaetetus and Republic as excellent epistemological texts. Although Aristotle provides good info as well, it is a tougher read. I would highly recommend starting with Plato: Theaetetus and Republic..

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.