A Study Of The Knowledge Norm Of Action From John Hawthorne And Jason Stanley

The discussion of the relation between knowledge and action,which mainly focuses on whether knowledge is the norm of action in contemporary epistemology,has advantages of showing the importance of knowledge and telling us how to do and what to do.John Hawthorne and Jason Stanley emphasized that knowledge is sufficient and necessary for action by presenting the principle of knowledge norm of action,which claims that where one’s choice is p-dependent,it is appropriate to treat the proposition that p as a reason for acting iff you know that p.Other epistemologists such as Jessica Brown and Peter Baumann,proposed SURGEON,isolated secondhand knowledge cases,Gettier style cases and remarriage case to against such a principle,holding that it is expected utility,acceptance,or belief,rather than knowledge that can be the norm of action.In this thesis,I will show that some of the cases that against the knowledge norm of action are not effective,and the opposite ideas to the knowledge norm remain some problems to solve,resulting in failures of refuting the knowledge norm.If we redefine and revise the knowledge norm through identifying the concept of knowledge,the force of the norm,and the understanding of the appropriateness,we can deal with the challenges from other epistemologists.The new comprehension of knowledge norm advocates the sufficient and necessary functions of knowledge,while providing some space for other norms,like prudential and moral norms,showing the important status and value of knowledge in epistemology.