Readings on Closure

Readings followed by “(LWB)” are available in the department library for you to copy. Readings followed by “(Website)” can be downloaded from this page: PHL 502 readings. Readings followed by a URL can be downloaded from JSTOR, INGENTA, or some other web source. (For some of them, you may have to be on the UR network to get access.)

1. Initial Criticisms of Closure and a Response

Dretske, Fred. 1970, "Epistemic Operators," Journal of Philosophy 67: 1007-1023. http://tinyurl.com/c73qa

 -----, 1971, "Conclusive Reasons," Australasian Journal of Philosophy 49: 1-22. (LWB)

Nozick, Robert. 1981, Philosophical Explanations, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Selections from Keith DeRose and Ted A. Warfield, eds., Skepticism: A Contemporary Reader, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 156-79. (LWB)

Vogel, Jonathan. (1990): “Are there Counterexamples to the Closure Principle?”, in M.D. Roth and G. Ross, eds., Doubting, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 13-27. (LWB)

B. Formulating a Closure Principle

Hales, Hales (1995) “Epistemic Closure Principles,” Southern Journal o f Philosophy 33: 185-201. (LWB)

Feldman, Richard “In Defense of Closure,” The Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 181. (Oct., 1995), pp. 487-494. http://tinyurl.com/cj6mf (See also Audi’s response : “Deductive Closure, Defeasibility and Scepticism: A Reply to Feldman” The Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 181. (Oct., 1995), pp. 494-499. http://tinyurl.com/87fza )

Warfield, Ted. and Marian David. xxx. “Six Counterexamples to One or Two Closure Principles.” (Website)

C. Closure and Skepticism

Brueckner, Anthony. 1985. “Skepticism and Epistemic Closure,” Philosophical Topics 13: 89-117. (LWB)

Warfield, Ted A. 2004. “When epistemic closure does and does not fail: a lesson from the history of epistemology.” Analysis 64, 35-41. http://tinyurl.com/bvq7f

Brueckner, Anthony. 2004. “Strategies for refuting closure for knowledge.” Analysis 64, 333-35. http://tinyurl.com/e2z3l

Klein, Peter. 2004. “Closure Matters: Academic Skepticism and Easy Knowledge.” Philosophical Issues 14, 165-84. (LWB)

Warfield, Ted, and David, Marian. Forthcoming. “Knowledge-Closure and Skepticism.” (The first half of this paper belongs in section B.) (Website)

D. Recent Developments

Dretske, Fred. 2004. “The Case Against Closure” and “Reply to Hawthorne.” In Matthias Steup and Ernest Sosa (eds.) Contemporary Debates in Epistemology. Malden, MA: Blackwell. pp. 13-26, 43-46. (LWB)

Hawthorne, John. 2004. “The Case for Closure.” In Contemporary Debates in Epistemology, pp. 26-43. (Similar to some sections of Ch. 1 of Knowledge and Lotteries.) (LWB)

E. Encyclopedia Articles

Luper, Steven. Stanford Encyclopedia http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/closure-epistemic/

Brueckner, Anthony. 1998. “Deductive closure principle.” In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge. http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/P011