Three Naturalistic Accounts of the Epistemology of Argument

Abstract

Three contrasting approaches to the epistemology of argument are presented. Each one is naturalistic, drawing upon successful practices as the basis for epistemological virtue. But each looks at very different sorts of practices and they differ greatly as to the manner with which relevant practices may be described. My own contribution relies on a metamathematical reconstruction of mature science, and as such, is a radical break with the usual approaches within the theory of argument.

Keywords

• epistemology
• argument
• truth
• inquiry
• naturalistic epistemology
• philosophy of science