Epistemic Logic - University of Pittsburgh Press

Epistemic Logic

A Survey of the Logic of Knowledge

Epistemic Logic is the shining star of Rescher's provocative trilogy on realism, knowledge, and our cognitive limitations. EL is a unique and crucial addition to the literature in formal epistemology because it locates the debate over the knowability principle within an overall system of the logic of knowledge.

Mind

Epistemic logic is the branch of philosophical thought that seeks to formalize the discourse about knowledge. Its object is to articulate and clarify the general principles of reasoning about claims to and attributions of knowledge. This comprehensive survey of the topic offers the first systematic account of the subject as it has developed in the journal literature over recent decades. Rescher gives an overview of the discipline by setting out the general principles for reasoning about such matters as propositional knowledge and interrogative knowledge. Aimed at graduate students and specialists, Epistemic Logic elucidates both Rescher's pragmatic view of knowledge and the field in general.

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"Epistemic Logic is a superb, especially welcome, and long overdue addition to the corpus of philosophical logic. Like Rescher's previous books, this one is clear, cogent, well crafted, well argued, and eminently fair to contrary points of view. Its scope is so wide that the book can serve admirably as a text for senior philosophy students and as a treatise, reference manual, and handbook for professionals. It should prove to be a new touchstone in its field."

Norman Swartz, Simon Fraser University

A powerful concise examination of the principles and implications of epistemic logic. Rescher combines technical rigor with a profound grasp of the problems of knowledge theory. This study will be as useful to students as it is sure to be provocative to professionals in the field.

Dale Jacquette, Pennsylvania State University

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152 Pages, 5.5 x 8.5 in.

February, 2005

isbn : 9780822961307

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about the author

Nicholas Rescher was Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh and co-chairman of the Center for Philosophy of Science. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he served as president of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association, the Leibniz Society of North America, the Charles S. Peirce Society, the American Catholic Philosophical Association, and the Metaphysical Society of America. Rescher was the author or editor of more than one hundred books, including Ignorance (On the Wider Implications of Deficient Knowledge), Philosophical Inquiries: An Introduction to Problems of Philosophy, and A Journey through Philosophy in 101 Anecdotes.

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