The medieval roots of reliabilist epistemology
Albert of Saxony's view of immediate apprehension
pp. 409-434
Abstract
In the essay I first argue that Albert ofSaxony's defense of perceptual ``directrealism'' is in fact a forerunner of contemporaryforms of ``process reliabilist''epistemologies. Second, I argue that Albert's defenseof perceptual direct realism has aninteresting consequence for his philosophy oflanguage. His semantic notion of `naturalsignification' does not require any semanticintermediary entity called a `concept' or`description', to function as the directsignificatum of written or spoken termsfor them to designate perceptual objects. AlthoughAlbert is inspired by Ockham's mentalact theory, I conclude that Albert seemsto be striking out in a very new direction.
Publication details
Published in:
(2003) Synthese 136 (3).
Pages: 409-434
Full citation:
Fitzgerald Michael J (2003) „The medieval roots of reliabilist epistemology: Albert of Saxony's view of immediate apprehension“. Synthese 136 (3), 409–434.