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Relations (1)
cross_type 3.17 — strongly supporting 8 facts
Robert Audi is a prominent epistemologist who has extensively analyzed the nature and limitations of testimony as a source of knowledge and justification, as evidenced by his various claims [1], [2], [3], and [4] regarding its operational dependence on perception and its susceptibility to deception [5], [6], [7], and [8].
Facts (8)
Sources
Epistemology of Testimony | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy iep.utm.edu 7 facts
quoteRobert Audi (2006) states: "[T] must in some sense, though not necessarily by conscious choice, select what to attend to, and in doing so can also lie or, in a certain way, mislead … For the basic sources, there is no comparable analogue of such voluntary representation of information."
quoteRobert Audi argues against the possibility of gaining knowledge from the biology teacher in Jennifer Lackey's example, stating: “If … [the students] simply take [the teacher’s] word, they are taking the word of someone who will deceive them when job retention requires it…. It is highly doubtful that this kind of testimonial origin would be an adequate basis of knowledge.”
claimRobert Audi (2006) asserts that testimony is operationally dependent on perception, noting that to receive testimony about the time, one must hear or otherwise perceive the speaker.
perspectiveRobert Audi argues that students cannot gain knowledge from a teacher who does not believe the lesson they are teaching, stating that if students simply take the word of a teacher who would deceive them when job retention requires it, it is highly doubtful that this testimonial origin provides an adequate basis for knowledge.
claimRobert Audi (2002) argues that apart from perceptual justification for believing that a testifier attested to a proposition, one cannot acquire justification for believing that proposition on the basis of that testimony.
quoteRobert Audi states: "[W]e cannot test the reliability of one of these basic sources [that is, for Audi, a source like perception or memory, but not testimony] or even confirm an instance of it without relying on that very source. … With testimony, one can, in principle, check reliability using any of the standard basic sources."
claimAlvin Plantinga (1993) and Robert Audi (2006) suggest that testimony differs from sources like perception because testimonially-based beliefs can be defeated or trumped by other sources of evidence in ways that perception cannot.
Epistemological Problems of Testimony plato.stanford.edu 1 fact
claimRobert Audi (1997) maintains that while testimony can generate justification, it can only transmit knowledge.