Knowledge and Lotteries - Tapa dura

a wonderfully clear and well-argued book with a refreshing non-dogmatic air to it, that I am sure will function as a central reference point for these debates in the time to come. (Steffen Borge, Disputatio)

This monograph adds significantly to the growing literature on the skeptical threat posed by lotteries. But it is also an important contribution to epistemology in general, and especially the intersection between epistemology and the philosophy of language. The book is also a good read. It is filled with engaging arguments, for and against various positions, many of which spill over into the footnotes, where they undergo promising developments. (Matthew McGrath, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews)

This is a must-read, indeed a must-study, for everyone interested in the concept of knowledge. (The Philosophical Quarterly, April 2005)

Knowledge and Lotteries is organized around an epistemological puzzle: in many cases, we seem consistently inclined to deny that we know a certain class of propositions, while crediting ourselves with knowledge of propositions that imply them. In its starkest form, the puzzle is this: we do not think we know that a given lottery ticket will be a loser, yet we normally count ourselves as knowing all sorts of ordinary things that entail that its holder will not suddenly acquire a large fortune. After providing a number of specific and general characterizations of the puzzle, Hawthorne carefully examines the competing merits of candidate solutions. In so doing, he explores a number of central questions concerning the nature and importance of knowledge, including the relationship of knowledge to assertion and practical reasoning, the status of epistemic closure principles, the merits of various brands of scepticism, the prospects for a contextualist account of knowledge, and the potential for other sorts of salience-sensitive accounts. Along the way, he offers a careful treatment of pertinent issues at the foundations of semantics. His book will be of interest to anyone working in the field of epistemology, as well as to philosophers of language.