Abstract

CORMICK, Claudio Javier. Naturalized Epistemology. Escritos - Fac. Filos. Let. Univ. Pontif. Bolivar. [online]. 2021, vol.29, n.62, pp.101-122.  Epub Dec 13, 2021. ISSN 0120-1263.  https://doi.org/10.18566/escr.v29n62.a07.

The article presents a brief reconstruction of naturalized epistemology, understood as a methodological approach. Three emblematic positions within naturalized epistemology are distinguished: rejection of apriorism in epistemology, favoring the use of the results of empirical science; attribution of an instrumental normativity to epistemology; and the thesis of the empirical assessability of the epistemic norms or principles. The text addresses the way in which, historically, these features are presented in the foundational works of Quine and Laudan. Furthermore, it studies how this project is applied by three authors: Howard Sankey, who links naturalism to the debate of epistemic relativism; and Louise Antony and Elizabeth Anderson, who make use of these ideas as a foundation for feminist epistemology. Through these "applications", it is possible to appreciate that naturalized epistemology does not lead to the elimination of normative aspects, as was feared by early critics of Quine. It is also possible to appreciate that the approach of Sankey is naturalized because it is empirically informed, but it still depends on a priori arguments. On the contrary, appropriations by feminist epistemology carry out the naturalization project in a deeper sense, that is, they introduce a set of epistemological premises that are themselves empirical.

Keywords : Naturalized Epistemology; Naturalism; Rational Reconstruction; Psychology; Epistemic Rules; Willard van Orman Quine; Larry Laudan; Howard Sankey; Elizabeth Anderson.

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