The Point of Knowledge … is to Make Good Decisions!

Research output: Contribution to book/Conference proceedings/Anthology/ReportChapter in book/Anthology/ReportContributedpeer-review

Abstract

Over the last decade or so, there has been a renewed interest in Edward Craig's question why creatures like us in a world like ours have the concept of knowledge. What purpose does it serve? Craig famously proposed that the point of knowledge is to flag good informants. This proposal competes with more recent accounts according to which (a) knowledge marks the end of inquiry or (b) normally signals a threshold for "actionable" information. A common feature of all these accounts is that they relate knowledge in some way or other to decision-making. What if one were to put the link to decisions first? What if one assumed that the point of knowledge is to make good decisions?.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPutting Knowledge to Work
EditorsArturs Logins, Jacques-Henri Vollet
PublisherOxford University Press, Oxford
Pages201-218
Number of pages18
ISBN (electronic)9780192882417
ISBN (print)9780192882370
Publication statusPublished - 8 Aug 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85206221490
ORCID /0000-0002-9962-2074/work/173987741

Keywords

DFG Classification of Subject Areas according to Review Boards

Keywords

  • Function, Edward Craig, Assertion, Norm, Inquiry, Knowledge, Decision