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Thinking What One is Doing: Knowledge-how, Methods, and Reliability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2021

John Turman Open the ORCID record for John Turman [Opens in a new window]
John Turman*
Affiliation:
Stanford University, CA, USA
*
Email: john.michael.turman@gmail.com
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Abstract

There has been renewed interest over the last twenty years in Ryle's claims and arguments about knowledge-how. Elzinga (2018) and Löwenstein (2017) have both recently defended independent Ryle-inspired accounts of knowledge-how. In what follows, I will propose and defend an amendment to accounts of knowledge-how like those of Elzinga and Löwenstein. I argue that this amendment provides an additional needed distinction between the performance robustness provided by certain performance methods (or styles), and the robustness of an agent's ability to perform according to such methods (or styles). Additionally, the proposed amendment, if adopted, will make the amended views even more Rylean. I argue for this, in part, through original exegetical work on an under-discussed theme in Ryle's philosophy of mind: the relation between semi-hypothetical statements, methodological act-description, and knowledge-how.

Keywords

Knowledge-howRyleReliabilitySemi-hypotheticalIntelligenceMethods

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Type
Article
Information
Episteme , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , March 2023 , pp. 195 - 211
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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