Working without a Net: A Study of Egocentric Epistemology

in This New Book, Foley Defends An Epistemology That Takes Seriously The Perspectives Of Individual Thinkers. He Argues That Having Rational Opinions Is A Matter Of Meeting Our Own Internal Standards Rather Than Standards That Are Somehow Imposed Upon Us From The Outside. It Is A Matter Of Making Ourselves Invulnerable To Intellectual Self-criticism. Foley Also Shows How The Theory Of Rational Belief Is Part Of A General Theory Of Rationality. He Thus Avoids Treating The Rationality Of Belief As A Fundamentally Different Kind Of Phenomenon From The Rationality Of Decision Or Action. His Approach Generates Promising Suggestions About A Wide Range Of Issues—e.g., The Distinction Between Epistemic And Non-epistemic Reasons For Belief; The Question Of What Aspects Of The Cartesian Project Are Still Worth Doing; The Significance Of Simplicity And Other Theoretical Virtues; The Relevance Of Skeptical Hypotheses; The Difference Between A Theory Of Rational Belief And A Theory Of Knowledge; The Difference Between A Theory Of Rational Belief And A Theory Of Rational Degrees Of Belief; And The Limits Of Idealization In Epistemology.