‘This is an excellent and thought-provoking book on the epistemology of testimony, one that deserves to be read by all who work in this field.’ Duncan Pritchard, University of California, Irvine, USA; University of Edinburgh, UK ‘Stephen Wright’s book offers a thorough defence of the view that testimony functions to transmit knowledge and justification. In doing so it casts new light on familiar debates, and should be regarded as essential reading for anyone working in the epistemology of testimony.’ Paul Faulkner, University of Sheffield, UK ‘Wright’s excellent book presents a detailed defense of the idea that testimony transmits epistemic grounds from speaker to audience, and uses this idea to assess various other familiar accounts of testimony. It addresses all of the major issues in the epistemology of testimony and will be required reading for anyone interested in the topic.’ Sanford Goldberg, Northwestern University, USA Knowledge Transmission Our knowledge of the world comes from various sources. But it is sometimes said that testimony, unlike other sources, transmits knowledge from one person to another. In this book, Stephen Wright investigates what the transmission of knowledge involves and the role that it should play in our theorising about testimony as a source of knowledge. He argues that the transmission of knowledge should be understood in terms of the more fundamental concept of the transmission of epistemic grounds, and that the claim that testimony transmits knowledge is not only defensible in its own right but also indispensable to an adequate theory of testimony. This makes testimony unlike other epistemic sources. Stephen Wright is Lecturer in Philosophy at University College, Oxford, UK. With Sanford Goldberg, he is editor of Memory and Testimony: New Philosophical Essays (forthcoming). Routledge Focus on Philosophy Routledge Focus on Philosophy is an exciting and innovative new series, capturing and disseminating some of the best and most exciting new research in philosophy in short book form. Peer reviewed and, at a maxi- mum of fifty thousand words, shorter than the typical research monograph, Routledge Focus on Philosophy titles are available in both ebook and print on demand format. Tackling big topics in a digestible format, the series opens up important philosophical research for a wider audience, and as such is invaluable reading for the scholar, researcher and student seeking to keep their finger on the pulse of the discipline. The series also reflects the grow- ing interdisciplinarity within philosophy and will be of interest to those in related disciplines across the humanities and social sciences. Available: The Passing of Temporal Well-Being Ben Bramble How We Understand Others Shannon Spaulding Political Theory and Global Climate Action Idil Boran Consciousness and Moral Status Joshua Shepherd Knowledge Transmission Stephen Wright For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/ Routledge-Focus-on-Philosophy/book-series/RFP Knowledge Transmission Stephen Wright First published 2019 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2019 Stephen Wright The right of Stephen Wright to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Wright, Stephen (Stephen John), author. Title: Knowledge transmission / Stephen Wright. Description: 1 [edition]. | New York : Routledge, 2018. | Series: Routledge focus on philosophy | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018023124 | ISBN 9781138085275 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315111384 (e-book) Subjects: LCSH: Knowledge, Theory of. | Testimony. Classification: LCC BD181 .W75 2018 | DDC 121—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018023124 ISBN: 978-1-138-08527-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-11138-4 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC To my parents Contents Preface x 1 What is transmission? 1 2 Availability 14 3 Acquisition 30 4 Internalist approaches 45 5 Reliabilist approaches 62 6 A transmission theory of testimony 79 7 Objections to transmission 93 Index 108