Publisher's Synopsis
Contemporary debates in epistemology devote much attention to the nature of knowledge, but tend to neglect the question of its sources. The focus of "Human Knowledge and Human Nature" is on the latter, especially on the question of innateness.;Peter Carruthers' aim is to transform and re-invigorate contemporary empiricism, while also providing an introduction to a range of issues in the theory of knowledge. He gives a presentation and assessment of the claims of classical empiricism, particularly its denial of substantive a priori knowledge and also of innate knowledge. He argues that we would be right to reject the substantive a priori but not innateness, and then presents a novel account of the main motivation behind empiricism, which leaves contemporary empiricists free to accept innate knowledge and concepts. He closes with a discussion of scepticism, arguing that acceptance of innate concepts may lead to a decisive resolution of the problem in favour of realism.
