Epistemology, Science and Cognition

Contents Acknowledgement Introduction PART I Epistemology and Cognition 1 Six Responses to SkepticismSandhya Basu 2 Skepticism and Dretske?s ZebraLaxminarayan Lenka 3 Naiyayika Externalism and Gettier-like Counter ExamplesCA Tomy 4 Matilal?s Analysis of Contemporary Indian Approaches to EpistemologyK Srinivas 5 Rationality Thought and LanguageNirmalya Narayan Chakraborty 6 Knowledge Belief and Human RationalitySmita Sirker 7 Rationality and Reasoning with MetaphorsBipin Indurkhya 8 Epistemology and Knowledge Representation A Cognitive-Historical Approach to Philosophy of ScienceAmitabha Gupta PART II Cognition and Science 9 Explanation Causation and Physical Necessity From the Standpoint of Internal RealismChhanda Gupta 10 The Observational-Theoretical Distinction RevisitedKausik Bhattacharya 11 On Inter-Theoretic Incommensurability in ScienceMilan Desai12 Creativity and the Growth of Scientific KnowledgeManjari Chakrabarty PART III Cognition and Mind 13 How Did the Faculty of Language Evolve A Debate between Chomsky and PinkerAmita Chatterjee 14 Content Externalism versus Eliminative Materialism A Case Against ScientismManidipa Sen15 Empirical Knowledge and the Inner-Outer DistinctionMadhucchanda Sen List of Contributors Subject Index Author IndexThe papers collected in this volume focus on the phenomenon of cognition from the epistemological point of view in the light of the linguistic and the cognitivist shift in philosophy in general and in philosophy of science in particular The recognition that psychology and cognitive science are central to the epistemological enterprise has led to a shift in the locus of evaluation from knowledge claims to belief formation in individual knowers Psychological processes thus become primary objects of epistemic evaluations The questions then are 1 How are these processes to be evaluated; 2 Given the limitations of a cognitive agent how reliable are the methods employed by the cognitive architecture of the agent; 3 How can the notion of reason and rationality be reconfigured so as to be tied to the new epistemology; 4 Does the cognitivist approach help us to transcend the normativist-naturalist dichotomy; 5 What light does the new approach shed on the rules of scientific and day-to-day reasoning; 6 What is the significance of the new developments in epistemology in relation to the nature and limits of modelling as the basis of science as a cognitive enterprise In dealing with these and similar other questions the papers shed light upon the core concepts of epistemology Western and Indian such as concepts of meaning reference truth justification rationality etc 392 pp.…