Epistemology of Ordinary Knowledge - Tapa dura

Many philosophers reduce ordinary knowledge to sensory or, more generally, to perceptual knowledge, which refers to entities belonging to the phenomenic world. However, ordinary knowledge is not only the result of sensory-perceptual processes, but also of non-perceptual (noetic) contents that are present in any mind. From an epistemological point of view, ordinary knowledge is a form of knowledge that not only allows epistemic access to the world, but also enables the formulation of models of it with different degrees of reliability. Usually epistemologists focus their attention on scientific knowledge, believing that ordinary knowledge does not, or cannot, have an epistemology for it is not in any way rigorous. The papers collected in this volume analyse different aspects of ordinary knowledge and of its epistemology.

Mariano L. Bianca is Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Siena. His publications include Rappresentazioni mentali e conoscenza (2005); La mente immaginale (2009); Etica, eugenica e futuro della specie umana (2011); Realismo e antirealismo (co-edited with P. Piccari, 2011); Ontologia, realta e conoscenza (co-edited with P. Piccari, 2014); and La propria mente e il se (2014). He is also co-editor of the international journal Anthropology and Philosophy. Paolo Piccari is Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Siena. His main publications include Forme e strutture della razionalita argomentativa (2008); Pensare il mondo. Saggio sui concetti empirici (2010); Realismo e antirealismo (co-edited with M. Bianca, 2011); Conoscenza ordinaria e senso comune (2011); and Ontologia, realta e conoscenza (co-edited with M. Bianca, 2014). He is also co-editor of the international journal Anthropology and Philosophy.