Description

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Described by Hilary Putnam as "both a fine introduction and a significant contribution" to epistemology, and by Anthony Quinton as "at once comprehensive … and judicious," Evidence and Inquiry is unique both in its scope and in its originality. C. I. Lewis’s foundationalism, BonJour’s and Davidson’s coherentism, Popper’s critical rationalism, Quine’s naturalism, and Rorty’s, Stich’s, and Churchland’s anti-epistemological neopragmatism all come under Haack’s uniquely thorough critical scrutiny. Core epistemological questions about the nature of belief, the character and structure of evidence, the determinants of evidential quality, the relation of justification, probability, and truth, among others, are given refreshingly novel, and reasonable, answers.

Most books in epistemology are written only for other epistemologists. But Evidence and Inquiry has proven of interest not only to specialists but also to many other readers, from thoughtful scientists to thoughtful scholars of law and literature. 

This new, expanded edition—with a substantial new foreword and several additional papers on topics ranging from feminist epistemology to Peirce’s critique of the adversarial legal system and Bentham’s critique of exclusionary rules of evidence—should attract longtime readers and newcomers alike.

About the Author

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Susan Haack (Coral Gables, FL) is Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts and Sciences, professor of philosophy, and professor of law at the University of Miami. She is the author of numerous highly acclaimed books, including Defending Science-Within Reason; Philosophy of Logics; Evidence and Inquiry; Deviant Logic, Fuzzy Logic: Beyond the Formalism; and Manifesto of a Passionate Moderate: Unfashionable Essays; and the editor of Pragmatism, Old and New. She is one of the handful of living philosophers in Peter King's 100 Philosophers: The Life and Work of the World's Greatest Thinkers, and she was included in the Sunday Independent's 2005 list of the ten most important women philosophers of all time.