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  • 8/11/2019 KIM, Kihyeon - Internalism and Externalism in Epistemology

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    North American Philosophical Publications

    Internalism and Externalism in EpistemologyAuthor(s): Kihyeon KimSource: American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Oct., 1993), pp. 303-316Published by: University of Illinois Presson behalf of the North American Philosophical PublicationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20014469.

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  • 8/11/2019 KIM, Kihyeon - Internalism and Externalism in Epistemology

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    American Philosophical

    Quarterly

    Volume

    30,

    Number

    4,

    October

    1993

    INTERNALISM

    AND EXTERNALISM

    IN

    EPISTEMOLOGY

    Kihyeon

    Kim

    A

    HE

    distinction

    between

    internalism

    and

    externalism

    has

    been

    one

    of the

    most

    widely

    used

    distinctions

    in

    current

    epistemology,

    one that has been applied both to accounts

    of

    epistemic

    justification

    and

    to accounts

    of

    knowledge.

    Unfortunately,

    there

    are

    some

    confusions

    over

    which

    theories

    are

    internal?

    ist

    and which

    theories

    are

    externalist.

    The

    main

    goal

    of

    this

    paper

    is

    to

    show

    that

    there

    are

    three

    components

    of

    epistemic

    jus?

    tification and

    that the

    internalism/external

    ism

    distinction

    can

    be

    made

    on

    three

    corresponding

    dimensions. Once

    the

    three

    di?

    mensions

    are

    acknowledged,

    we

    will

    be able

    to

    see

    that

    most

    confusions

    over

    internalism

    and externalism arise

    from

    conflating

    the three

    dimensions. I shall

    begin

    my

    discussion

    by

    con?

    sidering

    some

    examples

    of the

    confusions.

    I. SOME EXAMPLES

    OF THE

    CONFUSION

    The distinction between

    internalism and

    externalism

    usually

    goes

    hand in hand with

    a

    contrast

    between

    traditional

    epistemology

    and

    a

    new

    trend

    in

    epistemology.

    Roderick

    Chisholm

    says

    that the

    usual

    approach

    to

    the traditional

    questions

    of

    theory

    of

    knowl?

    edge

    is

    properly

    called

    internal or

    inter

    nalistic. 1

    Laurence Bonjour

    echoes this

    claim

    when he

    says:

    When

    viewed

    from the

    general

    standpoint

    of the

    western

    epistemo

    logical

    tradition,

    externalism

    represents

    a

    very

    radical

    departure. 2

    Epistemologists

    usually

    agree

    to

    regard

    D. M.

    Armstrong,

    Alvin

    Goldman,

    Fred

    Dretske,

    and

    Robert

    Nozick

    as

    the

    leading

    externalist

    radicals.3

    According

    to

    the

    simplest

    definition of

    ex?

    ternalism,

    as

    offered

    by

    Armstrong4

    and

    Bon

    Jour5, externalism is the view that what

    makes

    a

    true

    belief

    knowledge

    is

    some

    rela

    tion

    (e.g.,

    causal

    relation,

    nomological

    rela?

    tion,

    or

    counterfactual

    relation)

    that

    holds

    between

    the belief

    state

    and

    the

    situation

    which makes the belief true.6

    As

    we

    shall

    see,

    this criterion classifies

    most

    of the above

    mentioned

    accounts

    as

    ex?

    ternalist.7

    However,

    according

    to

    it,

    Gold?

    man's

    process

    reliabilism

    would

    not

    be

    an

    externalist

    account.

    Process

    reliabilism

    as?

    serts

    that

    a

    person,

    S,

    is

    justified

    in

    believing

    that

    p

    only

    if S's

    believing

    that

    p

    is

    produced

    by

    a

    reliable

    cognitive

    process.8

    Goldman

    re?

    stricts

    the

    extent

    of

    belief-forming

    processes

    to

    cognitive

    events,

    i.e.,

    events

    within

    the

    or?

    ganisms'

    nervous

    system. Thus, epistemic jus?

    tification of

    a

    belief is defined

    by

    him

    without

    reference

    to

    the fact

    that makes

    the belief

    true.

    The

    Armstrong-BonJour

    definition,

    therefore,

    classifies

    process

    reliabilism

    as an

    internalist

    analysis

    of

    epistemic

    justification.9

    Many

    epistemologists

    would be

    unhappy

    about

    this

    consequence.10

    This

    unhappiness

    seems

    to stem

    from

    one

    strong

    intuition

    about externalism.

    The

    intuition is

    that,

    if

    the

    epistemic

    justification

    of

    a

    belief

    is

    analyzed

    in

    a

    way

    that entails

    a

    high objective

    prob?

    ability

    of the beliefs

    being

    true,

    then the

    analysis

    is

    externalist.

    From

    the

    internalist's

    perspective,

    a

    belief's

    epistemic

    justification

    is

    a

    purely

    internal

    matter

    in that

    it is

    to

    be

    described

    without

    reference

    to

    any

    connec?

    tion

    with

    the outside

    world.

    This is

    clearly

    ex?

    pressed

    in

    Chisholm's

    view of internalism:

    According

    to

    this

    traditional

    conception

    of

    'internal'

    epistemic justification,

    there

    is

    no

    logical

    connection

    between

    epistemic

    justifi?

    cation

    and

    the

    truth. 11

    In

    process

    reliabilism,

    a justified belief is a belief produced by a re?

    liable

    cognitive

    process,

    where

    the

    reliability

    303

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    304

    /AMERICAN

    PHILOSOPHICAL

    QUARTERLY

    of

    a

    cognitive

    process

    is

    a

    propensity

    of

    pro?

    ducing

    more

    true

    beliefs

    than false beliefs.

    Therefore,

    in

    this

    account,

    a

    connection with

    the external world in terms of truth

    (or

    like?

    lihood

    of

    being

    true)

    plays

    a

    crucial

    role

    in

    the

    analysis

    of

    epistemic justification.

    For

    this

    reason,

    many

    epistemologists

    think

    that

    proc?

    ess

    reliabilism

    is

    an

    externalist

    account

    of

    epistemic justification.

    Unfortunately,

    defining

    externalism in

    terms

    of

    the truth

    connection

    causes

    a

    prob?

    lem

    elsewhere. Keith

    Lehrer

    and

    Laurence

    BonJour both view the

    truth

    connection

    of

    beliefs

    as

    being

    necessary

    for

    epistemic justi?

    fication. According to Lehrer,

    If S knows

    that

    p,

    then S

    is

    completely

    justified

    in

    accepting

    that

    p

    in

    some

    way

    that

    is

    not

    defeated

    by

    any

    false

    statement...Undefeated

    justification provides

    a

    truth

    connection

    be?

    tween

    the

    mind

    and the

    world,

    between

    accep?

    tance and

    reality.

    BonJour

    says:

    And,

    if

    our

    standards

    of

    epistemic

    justifica?

    tion

    are

    appropriately

    chosen,

    bringing

    it

    about that

    our

    beliefs

    are

    epistemically justi?

    fied will also tend to

    bring

    it

    about,

    in the

    per?

    haps

    even

    longer

    run

    and

    with

    the usual

    slippage

    and

    uncertainty

    which

    our

    finitude

    mandates,

    that

    they

    are

    true. If

    epistemic justi?

    fication

    were

    not

    conducive

    to

    truth

    in

    this

    way,

    if

    finding

    epistemically justified

    beliefs

    did

    not

    substantially

    increase

    the

    likelihood

    of

    finding

    true

    ones,

    then

    epistemic

    justification

    would

    be

    irrelevant

    to

    our

    main

    cognitive

    goal

    and

    of dubious worth.

    The

    truth-connection criterion

    of the

    exter?

    nal

    world, therefore, classify

    the

    accounts

    by

    Lehrer and

    BonJour

    as

    externalist.

    However,

    they

    are

    two

    of the

    severest

    critics

    of

    exter?

    nalism.

    Naturally,

    their

    own

    accounts

    of

    epistemic

    justification

    often

    count

    as

    models

    of

    internalism.

    This is another confusion.

    II. THE

    INTERNAL

    AND THE

    EXTERNAL

    What

    should

    we

    conclude

    from

    the discus?

    sion

    so

    far?

    Should

    we

    conclude that inter?

    nalism and externalism

    are so

    ambiguous

    that it is hopeless to classify diverse episte

    mological

    accounts

    in

    terms

    of

    them?

    I

    be?

    lieve

    that

    this

    is

    a

    hasty

    conclusion.

    I will

    show

    that

    there is

    a

    clear

    concept

    of the in?

    ternal

    in

    the

    relevant

    epistemological

    sense.

    Being

    internal

    and

    being

    external

    are

    relative

    concepts.

    For

    example,

    the earth is

    external

    to

    Venus,

    but it is

    internal

    to

    the

    so?

    lar

    system.

    This

    suggests

    that

    any

    classifica?

    tion

    of the

    internal

    and

    the

    external

    must

    define

    a

    unit

    antecedently,

    relative

    to

    which

    the classification would

    be made.

    The

    question

    is,

    then,

    what is

    an

    epistemo?

    logical

    unit that should

    dictate the

    definition

    of

    the

    internal

    and the

    external

    in

    an

    epistemologi

    cally

    relevant

    sense.

    We

    can

    approach

    an

    answer

    to

    this

    question

    by considering

    a

    motivation

    behind traditional epistemology.

    Epistemology

    is

    interested in

    distinguish?

    ing,

    in

    a

    principled

    manner,

    justified

    beliefs

    from

    unjustified

    beliefs,

    and

    instances

    of

    knowledge

    from

    instances

    of

    non-knowledge.

    In

    specifying

    the

    conditions of

    epistemic jus?

    tification

    and

    knowledge,

    the

    goal

    of

    maxi?

    mizing

    truth

    while

    minimizing

    falsehood

    plays

    a

    predominant

    role. A

    very

    rough

    guideline

    for the

    analysis

    of

    epistemic justifi?

    cation

    and

    knowledge

    is

    that

    a

    belief

    is

    justi?

    fied for

    a

    person

    if

    and

    only

    if her belief is

    desirable

    from the

    viewpoint

    of

    seeking

    the

    above

    goal.14

    That

    is,

    epistemic

    evaluation

    governing

    the

    analyses

    of

    justified

    belief

    and

    knowledge

    is

    guided

    by

    the

    goal

    of maximiz?

    ing

    truth and

    minimizing

    falsehood.

    Setting

    up

    the

    goal

    of

    epistemological

    evaluation this

    way

    reveals

    the

    underlying

    di?

    chotomy

    not

    only

    of

    traditional

    epistemology,

    but

    also of traditional

    philosophy

    in

    general,

    namely,

    the world outside

    a

    cognitive

    agent

    versus

    a

    human mind that

    strives

    to

    acquire

    a correct picture of it. Given this standard

    metaphysical

    realist

    assumption,

    the

    way

    the

    world is

    and

    the

    way

    the world is believed

    to

    be

    by

    a

    cognitive

    agent

    can

    diverge.

    Once

    our

    fallibility

    is

    recognized,

    a

    truth-seeker

    has

    to

    determine

    which of her

    beliefs

    are

    acceptable

    from

    the

    truth-seeking

    point

    of view.

    That

    is

    how

    epistemology,

    seen as

    an

    analysis

    of

    epistemic justification

    and

    knowledge,

    gets

    started.

    As

    Quine

    says,

    Doubt has

    oft

    been said

    to

    be

    the mother of

    philosophy. This has a true ring for those of us

    who look

    upon

    philosophy

    primarily

    as

    the

    theory

    of

    knowledge.

    For the

    theory

    of

    knowl

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    INTERNALISM

    AND EXTERNALISM

    IN

    EPISTEMOLOGY

    /

    305

    edge

    has

    its

    origin

    in

    doubt,

    in

    scepticism.

    Doubt

    is

    what

    prompts

    us

    to

    try

    to

    develop

    a

    theory

    of

    knowledge.

    The above sketchy outline of the general

    framework

    of traditional

    epistemology

    sug?

    gests

    that the

    human

    cognitive

    system

    rather

    than the external

    world,

    which

    is its

    target,

    is

    the

    entity

    relative

    to

    which the

    internal has

    to

    be

    defined

    in

    epistemology.

    This

    suggests

    the

    following

    definition:

    X is internal

    to

    a

    cognitive

    agent

    S

    from

    an

    epistemic

    point

    of

    view

    if and

    only

    if

    x

    is

    something

    that

    hap?

    pens

    within the

    cognitive

    system

    of

    S.

    Unfortunately,

    this

    definition

    is both

    too

    vague and too broad. It is hard to determine

    what

    exactly

    is within

    a

    cognitive

    system.

    Does this include

    only

    those

    happenings

    within

    the

    brain,

    or

    does

    it

    also

    include

    the

    proximal

    stimuli such

    as

    retinal stimulation

    and

    tactile stimulation?

    More

    importantly,

    the

    above

    definition

    is

    too

    broad

    because

    not

    all

    the

    things

    that

    happen

    in

    one's

    cognitive

    system

    provide

    clues for the

    way

    the world

    is.

    Notice,

    for

    example,

    that

    neuro-physiological

    processes

    involved in

    cognition

    are

    clearly

    within

    the

    cognitive system. However, they

    are

    not

    internal

    to

    S

    from

    an

    epistemic point

    of view.

    As

    we

    have

    seen,

    epistemology

    en?

    dorses the

    dichotomy

    between the

    way

    the

    world is

    and

    the

    way

    the world

    is

    perceived,

    believed,

    or

    thought

    to

    be. The

    properties

    pertaining

    to

    the

    neuro-physiological

    aspect

    of

    cognition

    may

    be

    an

    ontological

    or

    causal

    foundation for the

    existence of

    states

    like be?

    liefs,

    but in themselves

    they

    are

    not

    a

    part

    of

    the

    epistemic perspective

    of

    a

    cognitive

    agent

    on

    the world.

    Neurological properties

    cannot

    be

    grasped

    by

    S's

    reflection,

    and

    therefore

    they

    cannot

    provide

    any

    internal

    clues

    for

    a

    cognitive subject

    about

    the

    way

    the

    world

    is.

    It

    emerges

    from the above

    discussion

    that

    not

    everything

    that

    happens

    within the

    cog?

    nitive

    system

    of

    a

    cognitive

    agent

    should

    count

    as

    internal

    to

    her from

    an

    epistemic

    point

    of

    view.

    Among

    the

    happenings

    within

    her

    cognitive

    system,

    only

    those

    that

    are

    graspable

    by

    her

    introspection

    should

    count

    as

    internal. The

    following

    definition

    matches

    the idea

    of

    the

    internal

    in

    traditional

    epistemology:

    (I)

    X is

    internal

    to

    a

    cognitive

    agent

    from

    an

    epistemic

    point

    of

    view if

    and

    only

    if X

    is

    introspectible by

    her.

    The categories of the internal and the exter?

    nal

    are

    intended

    to

    be

    mutually

    exclusive

    and

    jointly

    exhaustive.

    Thus,

    we can

    derive

    the

    definition

    of

    the external

    very

    easily

    from

    (I):

    (E)

    X

    is external

    to

    a

    cognitive

    agent

    from

    an

    epistemic point

    of view if and

    only

    if

    X

    is

    not

    internal

    to

    her.

    Many

    epistemologists

    embrace

    (I).

    Here

    are

    some

    examples:

    Internalism

    is

    the view that the

    justification

    making properties of any justified belief must

    be

    (epistemically)

    internal

    to

    the

    mind

    of the

    subject

    who

    holds that

    belief,

    that he could

    always

    know such

    properties

    of his

    belief

    by

    reflection',

    that

    is,

    through

    mere

    introspection,

    memory,

    and

    reason

    (intuitive

    and

    deductive).

    The internalist

    assumes

    that,

    merely

    by

    reflect?

    ing

    upon

    his

    own

    conscious

    state,

    he

    can

    for?

    mulate

    a

    set

    of

    epistemic

    principles

    that

    will

    enable

    him

    to

    find

    out,

    with

    respect

    to

    any

    possible

    belief

    he

    has,

    whether he

    is

    justified

    in

    having

    that

    belief.

    The

    internal,

    in

    the relevant

    sense,

    is

    that

    to

    which

    one

    has

    introspective,

    thus

    internal,

    ac?

    cess;

    it includes

    beliefs,

    visual and

    other

    sen

    18

    sory

    impressions,

    and

    thoughts.

    What confers

    justification

    must

    be internal

    to

    the

    subject

    in

    that

    she

    has

    a

    specially

    direct

    cognitive

    access

    to

    it.

    It must

    consist of

    some?

    thing

    like

    a

    belief

    or

    an

    experience,

    something

    that the

    subject

    can

    typically

    spot

    just

    by

    turn?

    ing

    her attention

    to

    the

    matter.

    So

    far

    we

    have

    seen

    that

    the

    definition

    of

    the

    internal in

    an

    epistemologically

    relevant

    sense can

    be

    given quite clearly

    in

    terms

    of

    introspectibility,

    and

    that

    this

    definition

    is

    supported

    by

    the

    fact

    that

    many

    epistemolo?

    gists

    accept

    this

    definition.

    Let

    us

    now

    ask

    what

    sorts of

    things

    would be internal

    and

    what

    sorts

    of

    things

    would

    be external

    ac?

    cording

    to

    (I).

    The

    classification

    I

    will

    propose

    in

    the rest

    of

    this

    section

    is

    by

    no

    means

    conclusive.

    A

    conclusive

    classification would

    require

    philo?

    sophical

    and

    psychological

    research

    on

    the

    capacity

    of human

    introspection

    and

    on

    the

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    306

    /

    AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL

    QUARTERLY

    nature

    of the

    things

    to

    be

    classified.

    Obvi?

    ously,

    this

    goes

    beyond

    the

    scope

    of

    this

    pa?

    per.

    But

    this

    inconclusiveness

    of

    the

    classification will not affect the main point of

    this

    essay.

    Let

    us

    consider

    why.

    The

    next

    section

    will

    argue

    that

    an

    episte?

    mological theory

    consists

    of three

    different

    ingredients,

    each of which

    resides

    on a

    differ?

    ent

    dimension.

    Depending

    on

    the

    introspec

    tibility

    of the three

    ingredients,

    the

    theory

    can

    be classified

    either

    as

    internalist

    or as ex?

    ternalist

    on

    three different dimensions.

    The

    main

    thesis of this

    essay

    is

    that,

    even

    if

    epistemologists

    agree

    on

    what

    is

    internal and

    what

    is

    external,

    a

    confusion

    over

    the

    use

    of

    internalism

    and externalism will

    con?

    tinue

    to

    arise when

    they

    conflate

    the

    three

    dimensions

    on

    which the

    internalism/exter

    nalism

    distinction

    can

    be made.

    Moreover,

    most

    confusions

    with

    regard

    to

    the

    use

    of

    in?

    ternalism and externalism

    are

    due

    to

    the

    conflation

    of

    one or more

    of these dimen?

    sions,

    rather

    than the lack of

    a

    proper

    under?

    standing

    of

    what

    is

    introspectible

    and what

    not.

    This

    is

    why

    the inconclusiveness

    of

    my

    classification

    of the internal

    things

    and the

    external

    things

    will not affect the central the?

    sis

    of

    this

    paper.

    Let

    us now

    turn

    to

    the clas?

    sification of

    the

    internal.

    Many

    of

    our

    cognitive

    states

    such

    as

    beliefs

    and

    thoughts,

    conative

    states

    such

    as

    inten?

    tions

    and

    desires,

    and

    sensory

    states

    such

    as

    visual

    impressions

    and

    auditory impressions

    are

    prototypical

    examples

    of what is internal

    to

    a

    cognitive subject.

    Some

    of these

    psycho?

    logical

    states

    may

    be hard

    to

    detect

    by

    intro?

    spection.

    Some

    may

    be

    even

    impossible

    to

    detect by introspection. This is

    an

    empirical

    question

    that

    remains

    to

    be

    answered,

    but

    whatever

    the

    answer

    to

    it

    turns

    out to

    be,

    psy?

    chological

    states

    that

    can

    be detected

    by

    in?

    trospection

    are

    internal

    to

    a

    cognitive

    agent.

    For

    simplicity,

    I will

    talk

    as

    though

    all

    psycho?

    logical

    states

    are

    introspectible,

    and

    are

    therefore

    internal

    to

    a

    cognitive

    agent.20

    In

    contrast,

    proximal

    stimuli

    of

    a

    cognitive

    system

    such

    as

    retinal

    stimulations

    do

    not

    seem

    to

    be

    introspectible,

    and

    are

    therefore

    external

    to

    a

    cognitive

    subject.

    Facts of the

    world

    are

    also external

    to

    her

    because

    they

    in

    themselves

    are

    not

    introspectible

    by

    her

    even

    though

    they

    might

    be

    observable.

    Truth

    is also

    external

    to

    her.

    A belief

    has

    a

    propo

    sitional

    content.

    According

    to

    well-known

    ac?

    counts of truth, the truth-value of the content

    of

    a

    given

    belief

    depends

    either

    on

    its

    corre?

    spondence

    with the

    fact

    or on

    its

    coherence

    relation

    with the

    contents

    of other

    beliefs.

    Either

    way,

    the

    truth

    of

    a

    belief

    goes

    beyond

    the

    introspection

    of

    a

    cognitive

    subject.21

    It

    is

    controversial

    whether causal

    relations

    among

    psychological

    states

    can

    be

    in?

    trospected.

    The view

    that for

    external

    events

    causal

    relations

    are

    not

    observable is

    com?

    mon

    in

    the Humean

    tradition.

    However,

    many philosophers dispute

    this.22

    Moreover,

    even

    if causal

    relations

    among

    external

    events

    are

    not

    observable,

    it

    may

    be that

    causal

    relations

    among

    internal

    psychological

    states

    can

    still be

    detected

    by

    inner

    observa?

    tion,

    that

    is,

    by

    introspection.

    The

    non-ob

    servability^of

    causal

    relations

    among

    external

    events

    may

    be due

    to

    some

    feature of their

    being

    external. For

    these

    reasons,

    it

    is

    danger?

    ous

    to

    make

    a

    sweeping

    claim that

    all

    causal

    relations

    among

    psychological

    states

    are

    not

    introspectible.

    However,

    again

    to

    have

    a con?

    crete

    example

    for later

    discussion,

    I will talk

    as

    if

    all causal relations

    are

    not

    introspectible.

    The

    rationale

    for

    doing

    so

    is

    that those who

    argue

    for

    the

    observability

    or

    introspectibil

    ity

    of

    causal relations

    appeal

    to

    very

    rare

    in?

    stances

    of causal

    relations.

    This

    suggests

    that

    most,

    if

    not

    all,

    causal relation

    may

    be

    not

    observable

    or

    introspectible.

    How about

    cognitive

    processes?

    They

    are

    the

    most

    recalcitrant

    cases

    for the

    classifica?

    tion.

    Suppose

    that

    a

    reasoning

    process

    is

    de?

    fined as a sequence of belief states with

    introspectible

    psychological

    properties.

    Thus,

    on

    this

    view,

    reasoning

    processes

    are

    in?

    trospectible,

    and

    therefore

    internal

    to

    a

    cog?

    nitive

    subject.

    However,

    vision,

    which

    is

    a

    robust

    example

    of

    a

    cognitive

    process,

    seems

    to

    include retinal

    stimulation

    as

    one

    compo?

    nent.

    Thus,

    it

    includes

    a

    part

    that

    is

    not

    in?

    trospectible

    and

    which

    is,

    therefore,

    external

    to

    a

    cognitive

    subject.

    Moreover,

    it

    is

    unclear

    that

    a

    cognitive

    process

    can

    be

    defined

    with?

    out

    reference

    to

    the

    causal

    relations

    among

    its

    component

    psychological

    states. For these

    reasons,

    it

    is

    hard

    to

    say

    whether

    a

    given

    psy

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    INTERNALISM

    AND

    EXTERNALISM

    IN

    EPISTEMOLOGY

    /

    307

    chological

    process

    is internal

    or

    external.

    It

    is

    even

    harder

    to

    argue

    for the

    introspectibility

    of

    psychological

    processes

    in

    general.

    So,

    I

    shall

    suspend any definite judgment

    on

    the

    introspectibility

    of

    psychological

    processes

    and,

    therefore,

    on

    whether

    psychological

    processes

    of

    a

    cognitive

    subject

    are

    internal

    to

    her.

    Here

    again,

    I will talk

    as

    though

    psy?

    chological

    processes

    of

    a

    cognitive

    subject

    are

    internal

    to

    her. The

    rationale

    for

    doing

    so

    is that

    most

    her

    psychological

    states

    are

    in?

    ternal

    to

    her

    and,

    therefore,

    her

    psychological

    processes

    that

    are

    sequences

    of her

    psycho?

    logical

    states

    are

    mostly

    introspectible

    by

    S.

    III. THREE DIMENSIONS OF THE

    INTERNALISM/ EXTERNALISM

    DISTINCTION

    So

    far,

    I

    have

    been

    talking

    about

    theories

    of

    epistemic

    justification

    and theories

    of

    knowledge

    indiscriminately.

    In

    this

    section,

    I

    will

    talk

    just

    about theories

    of

    epistemic

    jus?

    tification. This does

    not

    mean

    that

    what

    I

    am

    going

    to

    say

    from

    now

    on

    applies

    only

    to

    theories

    of

    epistemic justification.

    The frame?

    work

    I

    will

    develop

    in

    this

    section

    is

    general

    enough to apply to theories of knowledge as

    well.23

    A

    simple

    intuition

    about

    epistemic

    justifi?

    cation

    is

    that

    a

    person,

    S,

    is

    justified

    in

    believ?

    ing

    that

    p

    only

    if S's

    belief

    that

    p

    is based

    on

    adequate

    grounds.

    This

    suggests

    that

    a

    theory

    of

    epistemic justification

    has to

    explain

    what

    it is for

    a

    belief

    to

    be based

    on

    adequate

    grounds.

    The

    expression being

    based

    on

    adequate

    grounds

    makes

    reference

    to

    three

    different

    epistemic

    concepts:

    ground,

    ade?

    quacy,

    and

    being

    based

    on.

    Therefore,

    a

    the?

    ory

    of

    epistemic justification

    that tries to

    analyze

    being

    based

    on

    adequate

    grounds

    must

    include three

    different

    parts

    that

    an?

    swer

    the

    following questions:

    (1)

    What

    sort

    of

    things

    in

    general

    can

    be

    grounds

    for the

    justification

    of

    beliefs

    (e.g.,

    external

    facts,

    non-doxastic

    psychological

    states,

    doxastic

    psychological

    states,

    psycho?

    logical

    processes)?

    (2)

    What

    is

    the

    criterion

    (or criteria)

    of

    ade?

    quacy

    that

    a

    ground

    (grounds)

    has

    (have)

    to

    satisfy

    in

    order

    to

    yield

    justification

    for

    a

    particular

    belief?

    (3)

    What is the

    proper

    basing

    relation

    that

    must

    hold

    between

    the

    belief

    in

    question

    and its

    adequate

    grounds?

    A theory of epistemic justification can give

    either

    an

    internalist

    or

    an

    externalist

    answer

    to

    each

    of the

    three

    questions.

    Moreover,

    an

    answer

    to

    one

    question

    is

    independent

    of

    its

    answers

    to

    other

    questions.

    This

    suggests

    that

    the

    internalism/externalism

    distinction

    with

    regard

    to

    a

    theory

    of

    epistemic

    justification

    can

    be made

    on

    three different dimensions.

    Let

    us

    consider

    these three

    dimensions

    in

    turn:

    First Dimension: The Ground

    of

    Epistemic Justification

    Theories of

    epistemic

    justification

    differ

    on

    what

    sorts

    of

    things

    can

    be

    grounds

    for the

    justification

    of

    beliefs.

    One famous

    contro?

    versy

    focuses

    on

    whether

    only

    beliefs

    can

    be

    grounds

    for the

    justification

    of

    beliefs,

    or

    whether non-doxastic

    psychological

    states,

    e.g.,

    experience variously

    characterized

    as sense

    data,

    the

    given,

    etc.,

    can

    be

    grounds

    as

    well.

    This

    dispute

    arises

    because

    some

    epistemolo

    gists

    claim that

    something

    can

    justify

    a

    belief

    only

    if it has a

    propositional

    content. Accord?

    ing

    to

    their

    view,

    since

    the

    experience

    itself

    does

    not

    have such

    a

    propositional

    content,

    only

    a

    belief

    about

    the

    experience,

    not

    the

    experience

    itself,

    can

    be

    grounds

    for

    justifica?

    tion of

    experiential

    beliefs.24

    This

    controversy

    is

    a

    domestic

    dispute

    within the

    family

    of views that

    identify

    justi?

    fying grounds

    as

    psychological

    states,

    doxas?

    tic

    or

    non-doxastic.

    They

    all

    assume

    that

    the

    evidential

    relation between

    justifying

    psy?

    chological states at ground level and the be?

    lief in

    question

    is crucial for the

    epistemic

    justification

    of the

    belief. This evidential relation

    is

    always

    assumed

    to

    be

    some

    type

    of

    content

    relation. Let

    us

    call

    any

    doctrine

    that

    incorpo?

    rates

    this basic

    assumption

    evidentialism.

    This

    contrasts

    with the

    view

    of other

    epistemologists

    who

    argue

    that

    what

    is

    cru?

    cial for

    epistemic

    justification

    of

    a

    belief

    is

    not

    its evidential

    relation

    to

    its

    grounds,

    but

    how the belief is

    produced

    (i.e.,

    which

    cogni?

    tive

    process

    is

    responsible

    for

    the

    production

    of the

    belief).

    According

    to

    process

    reliabi?

    lism,

    the

    psychological

    processes

    of

    a

    cogni

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    308

    /AMERICAN

    PHILOSOPHICAL

    QUARTERLY

    tive

    agent,

    as

    opposed

    to

    her

    psychological

    states,

    are

    the

    source

    of

    epistemic justifica?

    tion.25

    Therefore,

    on

    this

    account,

    the

    sorts

    of

    things

    that can be

    grounds

    for

    justification

    are

    cognitive

    processes.26

    Let

    us

    call the

    doc?

    trine that

    a

    cognitive

    process?the

    one

    that

    is

    responsible

    for the

    production

    of

    a

    belief?

    determines

    the

    justification

    of

    the belief

    processism.21

    The views

    I

    have considered

    so

    far

    con?

    cerning

    the

    nature

    of

    grounds

    of

    epistemic

    justification

    differ in their

    details,

    but

    they

    agree

    that the

    ground

    of

    epistemic

    justifica?

    tion is

    something

    internal. As

    we

    have

    seen

    in section 2, doxastic psychological states,

    non-doxastic

    psychological

    states,

    and

    cogni?

    tive

    processes may

    all

    count

    as

    being

    internal

    according

    to the

    introspectibility

    criterion.

    For

    these

    theories,

    the sorts of

    things

    that

    are

    grounds

    for

    justification

    are

    internal,

    and

    so

    we

    may

    call them

    ground

    internalism.

    Ground internalism

    covers a

    wide

    range

    of

    theories of

    epistemic justification

    that

    some

    epistemologists

    regard

    as

    externalist theo?

    ries.28

    There

    are

    two

    things

    to

    notice before

    we

    consider

    some

    examples

    of

    ground

    exter?

    nalism.

    First,

    ground

    externalism does

    not

    claim

    that

    only

    the

    external

    can

    be

    grounds

    of

    justification

    of beliefs.

    It

    grants

    that

    grounds

    for

    inferential

    beliefs,

    i.e.,

    beliefs

    jus?

    tified

    by

    other

    beliefs,

    can

    be

    something

    in?

    ternal

    (grounding beliefs).

    However,

    ground

    externalism is

    distinguished

    from

    ground

    in?

    ternalism in that it allows

    that,

    for

    some

    be?

    liefs,

    their

    justifying

    grounds

    can

    be

    something

    external such

    as an

    external

    fact.

    Second,

    most

    ground

    externalists

    seem

    to

    be

    interested not in

    analyzing epistemic justifi?

    cation,

    but

    only

    in

    describing

    the

    conditions

    under

    which

    a

    true

    belief

    qualifies

    as

    knowl?

    edge.

    They

    include D. M.

    Armstrong,

    the

    early

    Goldman of A Causal

    Theory

    of

    Knowing,

    Nozick,

    Dretske

    and Peter

    Unger.

    According

    to

    Armstrong,

    S's belief that

    p

    is

    knowledge only

    if

    there is

    some

    specifica?

    tion of S such

    that,

    if

    any

    person

    is

    so

    speci?

    fied and he further

    believes

    that

    p,

    then

    p

    is

    the

    case.

    What is

    crucial for

    knowledge

    in this

    account is that the belief is related, in terms

    of

    a

    nomological

    relation,

    to

    the fact that

    makes the

    belief

    true.29,30

    The

    nomological

    relation

    in

    Armstrong's

    account

    is

    replaced

    by

    a

    causal

    relation

    in

    Goldman's

    account

    and

    by

    a

    counterfactual relation in

    Nozick's31

    and Dretske's32 accounts.

    Finally, according

    to

    Unger,

    [F]or

    any

    sentence

    value of

    p,

    a

    man

    knows

    that

    p

    if

    and

    only

    if

    it is

    not

    an

    accident that

    the

    man

    is

    right

    about its

    being

    the

    case

    that

    p. 33

    He

    says

    that

    in

    his

    analysis

    a

    complete

    absence of the

    accidental

    has

    to

    obtain

    in

    a

    certain relation

    concerning

    the

    man

    and

    the

    fact?4

    Here is

    a

    table that

    shows

    a

    distinction

    be?

    tween

    internalist

    theories and

    externalist

    theories

    on

    the

    ground

    dimension:

    Internalism

    Externalism

    Evidentialism

    Armstrong,

    Dretske,

    Processism

    Nozick,

    Unger,

    Goldman in

    A

    Causal

    Theory

    of

    Knowing

    Second Dimension: The

    Adequacy

    of

    Grounds

    The

    general

    information

    concerning

    the

    sorts

    of

    things

    that

    can

    be

    grounds

    is

    insuffi?

    cient

    to

    determine whether

    a

    particular

    be?

    lief is

    justified

    for

    a

    believer.

    Any

    theory

    of

    epistemic

    justification

    must

    include

    not

    only

    an

    account of

    the

    sorts

    of

    things

    that

    can

    be

    grounds

    for

    the

    justification

    of

    beliefs,

    but

    also

    an

    account

    of which

    grounds

    are

    ade?

    quate

    with

    respect

    to

    the

    justification

    of

    a

    particular

    belief.

    One

    question

    that arises is

    what

    a

    theory

    of

    epistemic

    justification

    takes

    as

    the

    locus of

    the

    criterion

    (criteria)

    of

    justificatory

    ade?

    quacy

    of

    grounds

    for

    a

    particular

    belief. The

    second

    way

    of

    distinguishing

    internalism

    from

    externalism arises from the different loci

    in which the

    adequacy

    criterion of

    a

    theory

    resides.

    First, consider,

    for

    example,

    a

    theory

    that

    claims

    that

    some

    grounds

    are

    adequate

    for

    justification of the belief that p because those

    grounds

    in

    fact

    make

    the belief

    that

    p

    likely

    to

    be

    true.

    In

    this

    theory,

    the

    adequacy

    crite

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    INTERNALISMAND

    EXTERNALISM

    IN

    EPISTEMOLOGY /

    309

    rion is

    the

    objective

    probability

    that

    the

    con?

    tent

    of

    the

    belief in

    question

    is

    true

    given

    the

    contents

    of

    its

    grounds.

    Even

    though

    the

    proper analysis

    of

    objective probability

    is still

    in

    dispute,

    it is

    clear

    that

    any

    adequate

    ac?

    count

    would

    treat

    it

    as

    being independent

    of

    the

    perspective

    of

    a

    cognitive

    agent.

    After

    all,

    it should

    be

    objective.

    Therefore,

    such

    a

    the?

    ory

    is

    externalist with

    regard

    to

    the

    adequacy

    criterion.

    I

    will

    call such

    a

    theory,

    which

    de?

    fines

    adequacy

    criterion

    independently

    of the

    mental

    dimension

    of

    a

    cognitive

    agent,

    ade?

    quacy

    externalism.

    Next,

    consider

    a

    theory

    that

    claims

    that

    some

    grounds

    are

    adequate

    with

    respect

    to

    the

    justification

    of

    the

    belief

    that

    p,

    because

    the believer

    thinks

    they

    make

    the

    belief

    that

    p

    likely

    to

    be

    true.

    In

    this

    the?

    ory

    the locus of the

    adequacy

    criterion is the

    thought

    of

    a

    cognitive

    agent.

    Therefore,

    ac?

    cording

    to

    my

    criterion of the

    internal,

    this

    theory

    is

    internal

    with

    respect

    to

    the

    ade?

    quacy

    of

    grounds

    because

    thoughts

    are

    psy?

    chological

    states

    that

    are

    supposedly

    introspectible.

    I

    will

    call this

    type

    of

    theory

    adequacy

    internalism.

    Now let

    us see

    how

    this

    distinction

    can

    be

    applied

    to

    current

    theories of epistemic justification.

    Goldman's

    process

    reliabilism

    claims

    that

    a

    cognitive

    process

    is

    an

    adequate ground

    for

    the

    justification

    of the

    belief

    produced

    by

    it

    only

    when

    the

    process

    is

    reliable.

    So,

    accord?

    ing

    to

    process

    reliabilism,

    the

    ground

    of

    jus?

    tification

    is

    a

    cognitive

    process

    and

    the

    adequacy

    criterion is

    the

    reliability

    of the

    process.

    The

    reliability

    of

    a

    cognitive

    process

    is

    defined in

    terms

    of its

    propensity

    of

    pro?

    ducing

    more

    true

    beliefs than false

    ones.

    Ob?

    viously,

    this

    propensity

    is

    not

    introspectible

    by

    a

    cognitive

    agent.35

    Therefore,

    Goldman's

    process

    reliabilism

    is

    an

    adequacy

    externalist

    theory.36

    This

    explains

    why

    many

    epistemolo

    gists

    think

    of

    process

    reliabilism

    as

    external?

    ist. It

    also

    explains

    why

    Chisholm associates

    externalism with

    the

    invocation

    of truth in

    the

    analysis

    of

    epistemic justification

    and

    why

    that leads him

    to

    think

    of

    process

    reli?

    abilism

    as

    being

    externalist.37

    Lehrer's and BonJour's coherence theories

    are

    also

    adequacy

    externalist.

    They

    assert

    that

    a

    belief

    is

    justified

    for

    a

    cognitive agent

    only

    if it is

    likely

    to

    be

    true.38

    Therefore,

    their

    theories

    are

    adequacy

    externalist

    for the

    same reason

    that

    Goldman's

    process

    reliabi?

    lism

    is

    an

    adequacy

    externalist

    account.

    Fur?

    thermore,

    according

    to

    coherentism,

    the

    criterion

    of the

    adequacy

    of

    the

    grounds

    for

    the

    justification

    of

    a

    belief

    is

    the

    coherence

    relation

    between the belief

    and the

    ground?

    ing

    beliefs,

    which

    comprise

    all the

    rest

    of

    the

    cognitive

    agent's

    beliefs.

    Even

    though

    the

    no?

    tion of

    a

    coherence relation

    is

    unclear,

    it

    is

    supposed

    to

    be

    a

    logical

    and

    explanatory

    re?

    lation. If it

    is,

    the traditional

    coherence the?

    ory

    of

    justification

    is

    an

    adequacy

    externalist

    theory. According

    to

    BonJour,

    one

    of

    the

    most

    prominent

    coherentists,

    the

    minimal

    condition

    for coherence

    is

    logical

    consistency.39

    The logical consistency of a set of beliefs is de?

    termined

    by

    whether it is

    possible

    that

    all

    the

    beliefs

    are

    true,

    regardless

    of what

    a

    cognitive

    agent

    thinks of the

    relations

    among

    them.

    Some

    evidentialist

    accounts

    claim

    that

    a

    piece

    of evidence is

    adequate

    for the

    justifi?

    cation

    of

    a

    belief

    only

    if

    it

    makes the

    belief

    objectively

    probable.

    These

    accounts

    include

    the

    theories

    by

    Swain and

    Alston.40

    On this

    view,

    grounds

    for the

    justification

    of

    a

    belief

    are

    some

    other

    psychological

    states

    and these

    grounds

    are

    adequate

    for

    the

    justification

    of

    the

    belief

    only

    if

    they

    stand

    in

    the

    objective

    probabilifying

    relation

    to

    the belief.

    Some

    foundationalist

    theories

    assert

    that

    some

    grounds

    are

    adequate

    for

    the

    justifica?

    tion of the belief

    that

    p

    because,

    if

    those

    grounds

    had

    not

    existed,

    then the

    belief

    that

    p

    would

    not

    have been

    held.

    The

    theories

    by

    Nozick and

    Dretske

    I

    introduced earlier

    are

    the

    examples

    of

    this

    type

    of

    theories.

    These

    foundationalist

    accounts

    are

    also

    adequacy

    externalist

    theories. For

    the

    truth-conducivity

    relation expressed by the counterfactual is

    defined

    independently

    of the

    introspection

    of

    a

    cognitive

    agent

    and,

    moreover,

    is not

    in?

    trospectible.

    It is

    not

    hard

    to

    see

    that

    other

    ground

    externalist theories such

    as

    the

    ones

    by

    Armstrong

    and

    early

    Goldman

    are

    also

    ade?

    quacy

    externalist

    theories. In

    them,

    a

    nomologi?

    cal

    implication

    or

    a

    proper

    causal

    relation

    between

    a

    belief

    and

    an

    external

    fact

    are

    crite?

    ria of

    adequacy

    and

    they

    are

    not

    introspectible.

    On

    the other

    hand,

    a

    foundationalist

    the?

    ory

    that claims

    that

    some

    grounds

    are

    ade?

    quate

    with

    respect

    to

    the

    justification

    of

    the

    belief that

    p

    because

    the

    believer

    thinks

    that

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    PHILOSOPHICAL

    QUARTERLY

    those

    grounds

    make the belief that

    p

    likely

    to

    be

    true

    would be

    an

    adequacy

    internalist

    the?

    ory.

    For the

    criterion

    of

    adequacy

    depends

    on

    the thought, therefore, on something that is

    supposedly

    introspectible by

    the

    believer.

    Richard

    Foley's theory

    is

    an

    example

    of foun?

    dationalist

    adequacy

    internalism.

    According

    to

    him,

    S

    is

    justified

    in

    believing

    that

    p

    just

    in

    case

    it

    is

    uncontroversial

    to

    assume

    that

    p.

    This

    requires

    S

    to

    believe that

    p

    and

    re?

    quires

    him

    to

    believe

    it

    with

    more

    confidence

    than he

    believes

    propositions

    that

    can

    be

    used

    to

    argue

    against

    it. In

    addition,

    p

    must

    be such

    that

    S,

    on

    reflection,

    would

    believe

    that in most relevant possible situations in

    which

    he

    believes

    p

    his

    belief would be

    true

    [my

    emphasis].41

    Other

    examples

    of

    adequacy

    internalist

    theories,

    that refuse

    to

    define

    the

    adequacy

    criterion for

    epistemic justification

    in

    terms

    of truth-connection with the external

    world

    as

    expressed

    by

    objective probability,

    in?

    clude the theories

    of

    Chisholm

    and Pollock:

    The

    internalist

    assumes

    that,

    merely by

    reflect?

    ing

    upon

    his

    own

    conscious

    state,

    he

    can

    for?

    mulate

    a

    set

    of

    epistemic principles

    that will

    enable him to find out, with respect to any

    possible

    belief

    he

    has,

    whether he

    is

    justified

    in

    having

    that

    belief.

    The

    epistemic

    principles

    that

    he

    formulates

    are

    principles

    that

    one

    may

    come

    upon

    and

    apply

    merely

    by

    sitting

    in one's

    armchair,

    so

    to

    speak,

    without

    calling

    for

    any

    assistance.

    In

    a

    word,

    one

    needs

    only

    consider

    one's

    own

    state

    of

    mind.

    ...the internalist maintains

    that

    epistemic

    norms

    must

    be

    formulated

    in

    terms

    of

    rela?

    tions between beliefs

    or

    between beliefs

    and

    nondoxastic internal

    states

    (e.g.,

    perceptual

    states), and he denies that these norms are

    subject

    to

    evaluations

    in

    terms

    of external

    con?

    siderations.

    The

    following

    table shows

    a

    distinction be?

    tween

    internalist theories

    and externalist

    theories

    on

    the

    adequacy

    dimension:

    Internalism Externalism

    Adequacy

    Chisholm,

    Ground

    Externalists,

    Foley,

    Process

    Reliabilism,

    Pollock

    Lehrer,

    BonJour,

    Swain,

    Alston

    Third

    Dimension:

    The

    Basing

    Relation

    A

    cognitive agent's

    having

    adequate

    grounds

    for the

    belief

    that

    p

    is

    still

    not

    suffi?

    cient

    to

    make her

    justified

    in

    believing

    that

    p.

    The

    belief

    that

    p

    must

    be

    properly

    based

    on

    its

    adequate grounds.

    This

    relational

    compo?

    nent

    constitutes the

    third factor

    of

    epistemic

    justification.

    Since

    it

    was

    pointed

    out

    by

    Roderick

    Firth,

    most

    epistemologists

    have

    ac?

    cepted

    it

    as

    a

    necessary

    condition

    of

    epistemic

    justification.441

    will

    discuss

    this

    factor in

    terms

    of

    an

    example

    given

    by

    Pollock:

    A

    man

    might

    have

    adequate

    evidence for

    be?

    lieving

    that his

    wife is

    unfaithful

    to

    him,

    [but]

    he

    might

    systematically ignore

    that

    evidence.

    However,

    when his

    mother,

    whom he

    knows

    to

    be

    totally

    unreliable in

    such

    matters

    and

    bi?

    ased

    against

    his

    wife,

    tells

    him

    that

    his wife is

    unfaithful

    to

    him,

    he

    believes it

    on

    that basis.

    The

    belief is

    defective,

    because it

    is

    not

    properly

    based

    on

    adequate grounds

    for

    it.

    However,

    the

    husband's

    belief could

    have

    been

    epistemically

    worse

    if

    he had

    not

    had

    any

    evidence

    at

    all for

    the belief. For

    this

    rea?

    son,

    Firth and

    Foley

    say

    that the

    belief

    of

    the

    man in the

    example

    is

    oropositionally,

    but not

    doxastically,

    justified.

    By

    propositional

    jus?

    tification,

    they

    mean

    the

    presence

    of

    ade?

    quate

    evidence,

    and

    by

    doxastic

    justification,

    they

    mean

    the

    presence

    of

    adequate

    evidence

    and

    a

    proper

    basing

    relation

    between

    the

    be?

    lief

    in

    question

    and

    the

    adequate

    evidence.

    However,

    to

    make

    such

    a

    distinction

    be?

    tween two

    different

    senses

    of

    epistemic justi?

    fication

    is

    misleading.

    For,

    according

    to

    our

    common

    intuition

    concerning

    the

    use

    of

    the

    term epistemic justification, it is more

    natural

    to

    say

    that the

    husband's belief

    in

    the

    example

    is

    plainly unjustified.

    We

    have

    a

    strong

    intuition

    that,

    even

    if

    he has

    adequate

    grounds

    for

    the belief

    that

    p,

    if

    he believes that

    p

    on

    some

    odd

    basis,

    then he

    is

    not

    justified

    in

    believing

    that

    p.

    For

    this

    reason,

    Pollock's

    distinction between

    justifiable

    belief and

    jus?

    tified

    belief

    captures

    the

    intended distinction

    more

    naturally

    than

    the

    one

    between

    propo?

    sitional

    justification

    and doxastic

    justifica?

    tion.

    And

    a

    theory

    of

    epistemic justification

    is interested

    in

    the

    analysis

    of

    justifiedness

    of

    a

    belief

    rather

    than

    in the

    analysis

    of

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    QUARTERLY

    52

    tion

    of

    beliefs.

    For this

    reason,

    we

    cannot

    tell

    whether BonJour

    is also

    a

    connection

    ex?

    ternalist

    or

    not.

    Connection externalism includes all the

    theories

    by

    Ground

    Externalists

    and the

    theories

    by

    Firth,

    Goldman,

    Feldman and

    Conee,

    and

    Alston.53

    In Ground

    Externalist

    theories,

    a

    belief

    is

    connected

    to

    an

    external

    fact

    in

    terms

    of

    a

    nomological

    relation,

    a

    counterfactual

    relation,

    or a

    causal

    relation.

    These relations

    are

    not

    introspectible

    as we

    have

    seen

    already.

    Any

    processist

    account,

    including

    Gold?

    man's

    process

    reliabilism,

    has

    a

    built-in

    exter?

    nalist analysis of the basing relation. On that

    view,

    justified

    belief

    is

    a

    belief

    that is

    pro?

    duced

    by

    an

    adequate

    cognitive

    process

    and,

    therefore,

    the

    connection

    between

    the

    belief

    and

    its

    adequate

    grounds

    is

    a

    production

    re?

    lation.

    Production

    is

    a

    causal

    process.

    Hence,

    any

    processist

    account is

    a

    connection

    exter?

    nalist

    account.

    Alston,

    and Feldman

    and Conee

    offer

    ex?

    amples

    of

    connection

    internalist

    accounts

    from evidentialism.

    According

    to

    them,

    the

    required basing relation that

    must

    hold be?

    tween

    evidential

    psychological

    states?

    grounds

    of

    epistemic

    justification?and

    the

    belief

    in

    question

    is

    a

    causal relation.

    Alston

    says,

    The

    ground

    of

    a

    belief

    is what

    it is

    based

    on....

    And

    presumably

    these

    are

    rela?

    tions

    of

    causal

    dependence 54

    [my

    emphasis].

    Feldman's and Conee's

    view,

    interpreted

    in

    the

    way

    relevant

    to

    our

    current

    discussion,

    is

    that

    S is

    justified

    in

    believing

    that

    p

    only

    if

    the

    adequate

    evidence

    is

    S's basis

    for believ?

    ing

    that

    p

    in

    the

    sense

    that S

    uses

    the

    evi?

    dence

    to

    form

    the

    belief

    that

    p.55

    However,

    when

    an

    evidentialist

    account

    is

    a

    connection-externalist

    account,

    it

    can

    also

    count

    as

    a

    processist

    account.

    According

    to

    an

    evidentialist

    account

    that

    is connection

    externalist,

    a

    belief

    is

    justified

    just

    in

    case

    the

    belief

    is

    caused

    by

    adequate

    evidence

    for the

    belief.

    Being

    caused

    by

    adequate

    evidence

    is

    equivalent

    to

    being

    produced

    (or

    sus?

    tained)

    by

    a

    cognitive

    process

    that

    takes

    the

    adequate

    evidence

    as

    an

    input.

    This is

    why

    evidentialist

    accounts

    that

    are

    connection-ex?

    ternalist

    are

    processists

    as

    well.

    One

    important

    lesson

    we can

    learn

    from

    the

    above

    discussion is that

    evidentialism

    and

    processism

    are

    not

    mutually

    exclusive. An

    ac?

    count that is evidentialist in its analysis of

    grounds

    of

    epistemic

    justification

    can

    be?

    come

    processist,

    when it

    adopts

    an

    externalist

    analysis

    of

    the

    basing

    relation.

    Summarizing

    my

    discussion

    of

    the internal

    ism/externalism distinction

    on

    the

    connec?

    tion

    dimension,

    all the Ground Externalist

    theories

    are

    connection

    externalist and

    all

    the

    processist

    account

    are

    connection

    exter?

    nalist

    as

    well.

    Evidentialist

    accounts

    can

    be

    either connection

    internalist

    or

    externalist.

    However,

    when

    they

    become

    connection

    ex?

    ternalist,

    they

    can

    also

    count

    as

    processist.

    The

    following

    table shows the distinction be?

    tween

    connection internalist theories

    and

    connection externalist

    theories

    across

    all

    three dimensions

    of

    the

    internalism/externalism

    distinction:

    Internalism Externalism

    Ground

    Adequacy

    Evidentialism,

    Processism,

    including

    all

    AI theories

    and

    all

    CI

    theories

    Chisholm,

    Foley,

    Pollock

    Armstrong,

    Dretske,

    Nozick,

    Unger

    Goldman

    in

    A

    Causal

    Theory

    of

    Knowing

    All GE

    theories,

    Process

    Reliabilism,

    Lehrer,

    BonJour,

    Swain,

    Alston

    Connection

    Evidentialism

    Proper

    (Foley, Lehrer,

    BonJour)

    All GE

    theories,

    Processism

    proper,

    Evidentialist

    Processism

    (Alston,

    Swain,

    Feldman

    and

    Conee)

    This table

    suggests

    that

    the

    classification

    of

    internalism

    and

    externalism

    can

    be

    a

    matter

    of

    degree.

    If

    a

    theory

    is

    externalist

    across

    all

    three

    dimensions,

    it

    is the

    most

    externalist.

    A

    theory

    that

    is externalist

    on

    two

    dimensions

    will

    be

    more

    externalist

    than

    the

    one

    that is

    externalist

    only

    on

    one

    dimension.

    According

    to

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    INTERNALISM

    AND

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    EPISTEMOLOGY

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    313

    this

    criterion,

    theories

    by

    Armstrong,

    Dret

    ske, Nozick,

    and Goldman

    are

    the

    most

    ex?

    ternalist theories.

    This

    explains

    why

    their

    theories are usually regarded as paradigms of

    externalist theories. Goldman's

    process

    reli?

    abilism

    is

    externalist

    to

    a

    high

    degree

    because

    it

    is externalist

    on

    two

    dimensions.

    On the other

    hand,

    Foley's

    theory

    is

    on

    the

    other

    extreme.

    His

    theory

    is internalist

    throughout

    all

    three dimensions.

    This

    out?

    come

    seems

    to

    go very

    well

    with

    Foley's

    own

    claim that

    his

    theory

    is

    purely

    subjective

    in

    the

    sense

    that

    everything

    about

    epistemic

    justification

    is determined

    by

    what

    is

    given

    to

    the

    perspective

    of

    a

    cognitive agent.56

    Lehrer's and

    BonJour's

    theories

    are

    less

    in?

    ternalist than

    Foley's,

    but

    they

    are

    highly

    in?

    ternalist because

    they

    are

    internalist

    on

    two

    dimensions.

    One

    advantage

    of

    understanding

    the three

    dimensions

    of

    the

    internalism/externalism

    distinction

    as

    expressed

    in the above table is

    to

    help

    clarify

    some

    confusions

    that have

    af?

    flicted

    current

    epistemology.

    Let

    us

    go

    back

    to

    the

    examples

    of the definitions of internal?

    ism

    and

    externalism

    which

    we

    considered

    at

    the

    beginning

    of this

    paper.

    We have seen

    that

    Armstrong

    and BonJour defined

    exter?

    nalism

    as

    the

    view

    that

    analyzes

    the condi?

    tions

    of

    knowledge

    or

    epistemic justification

    in

    terms

    of

    a

    relation between

    a

    belief

    state

    and the

    fact that

    makes

    the belief

    true.

    This

    definition seemed

    to

    have

    a

    problem

    because

    process

    reliabilism,

    which

    many

    epistemolo

    gists

    think of

    as an

    externalist

    theory,

    turns out

    to

    be

    internalist

    according

    to

    this definition.

    Now

    we can see

    that

    the above

    problem

    is

    only apparent. It stems from the conflation of

    two

    dimensions

    of

    epistemic

    justification,

    namely

    the

    ground

    dimension and

    the

    ade?

    quacy

    dimension.

    Armstrong

    and

    BonJour

    provide

    a

    definition

    of

    externalism

    that fo?

    cuses

    on

    whether

    a

    relation

    to

    an

    external

    fact

    plays

    a

    crucial

    role in

    a

    theory's

    analy?

    sis of

    knowledge

    or

    epistemic

    justification.

    With

    the

    same

    focus,

    Goldman

    himself

    was

    inclined

    to

    see

    his

    process

    reliabilism

    as

    in?

    ternalist.57

    On

    the other

    hand,

    those who

    are

    unhappy

    about

    classifying

    process

    reliabilism

    as

    internalist

    focus

    on

    the

    adequacy

    dimen?

    sion.

    Seen

    from that

    dimension,

    epistemic

    theories that invoke a truth-connection as a

    necessary

    condition for

    epistemic justifica?

    tion

    or

    knowledge

    are

    externalist. This makes

    process

    reliabilism externalist. Chisholm's

    definition

    of

    externalism

    in

    terms

    of

    truth

    con?

    nection

    is

    a

    clear

    example

    of this

    attitude.58

    An

    analogous

    dilemma arises

    when the

    adequacy

    dimension

    is

    conflated

    with

    the

    di?

    mension

    of

    basing

    relation.

    If the truth

    con?

    nection,

    which

    is the

    outcome

    of

    applying

    the

    introspectibility

    to

    the

    adequacy

    dimension,

    is taken

    as

    the universal

    criterion

    of

    external?

    ism,

    Lehrer's and

    BonJour's

    theories

    of

    epistemic justification

    are

    classified

    as

    exter?

    nalist.

    However,

    their

    theories

    are

    usually

    mentioned

    as

    typical examples

    of internalism

    in

    current

    epistemology.

    Here

    again,

    the

    di?

    lemma

    is

    merely

    apparent.

    One

    of

    the

    most

    controversial issues in

    current

    epistemology

    is whether

    a

    recognition

    of

    the

    support

    rela?

    tion

    between

    a

    belief

    and

    its

    adequate

    grounds

    is

    necessary

    for

    the

    justification

    of

    the

    belief.

    This

    issue is

    often

    addressed

    as

    the

    debate between internalism and externalism.

    Clearly,

    this

    distinction

    concerns

    the

    connec?

    tion factor of

    epistemic

    justification.

    Seen

    from this

    perspective,

    Lehrer's and BonJour's

    theories

    are

    internalist. Whether

    they

    are

    in?

    ternalist

    or

    externalist

    on

    the

    adequacy

    di?

    mension is another

    question.

    IV.

    SUMMARY

    I

    argued

    that

    introspectibility

    is the

    proper

    epistemological

    criterion

    of

    the

    internal.

    I

    also argued that theories of epistemic justifi?

    cation

    or

    knowledge

    can

    diverge

    on

    three dif?

    ferent dimensions.

    This

    depends

    on

    how

    one

    analyzes

    the

    three

    different

    components

    of

    epistemic justification

    or

    knowledge,

    namely,

    the

    grounds

    for

    a

    belief,

    the

    adequacy

    of

    the

    grounds

    for

    the

    belief,

    and

    the

    basing

    relation

    between

    the belief and

    its

    grounds.

    I

    argued,

    on

    this

    basis,

    that

    internalism and

    externalism

    can

    be

    distinguished

    in

    accordance with

    each

    component

    on

    three

    different

    dimensions.59

    University of

    Oklahoma

    Received

    February

    4,1993

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    314

    /

    AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL

    QUARTERLY

    NOTES

    1.

    Roderick

    Chisholm,

    The

    Indispensability

    of

    Internal

    Justification,

    Synthese,

    vol. 64

    (1988),

    pp.

    285-96

    (see

    p.

    285).

    2. Laurence

    BonJour,

    The Internalist

    Conception

    of

    Epistemic

    Justification,

    in Peter A. French et al.

    eds.,

    Midwest Studies

    in

    Philosophy

    vol.

    5: Studies in

    Epistemology

    (Minneapolis: University

    of

    Minne?

    sota

    Press,

    1980),

    p.

    56.

    3.

    D. M.

    Armstrong,

    Belief,

    Truth,

    and

    Knowledge (Cambridge:

    Cambridge University

    Press,

    1973);

    Alvin

    Goldman,

    A

    Causal

    Theory

    of

    Knowing,

    The Journal

    of Philosophy,

    vol.

    64

    (1967),

    pp.

    355-72;

    Fred

    Dretske,

    Conclusive

    Reasons,

    Australasian Journal

    of Philosophy,

    vol.49

    (1971),

    pp.

    1-22,

    reprinted

    in

    Marshall Swain

    and

    George

    Pappas

    eds.,

    Essays

    on

    Knowledge

    and

    Justification

    (Ithaca,

    NJ: Cornell

    University

    Press,

    1978)

    and

    Knowledge

    and the Flow

    of Information

    (Cambridge:

    MIT

    Press,

    1981);

    Robert

    Nozick,

    Philosophical

    Explanations

    (Cambridge,

    MA: Harvard

    University

    Press,

    1981),

    chapter

    3.

    4.

    D. M.

    Armstrong,

    op.

    cit.,

    p.

    157.

    5.

    L.

    BonJour,op.

    cit.,

    p.

    55.

    6. The well-known minimal condition for

    knowledge

    is that a

    person,

    S,

    knows that

    p

    only

    ifS believes that

    p

    and

    it is

    true that

    p.

    Given

    this,

    modern

    epistemology

    has

    focused

    on

    other

    conditions that

    must

    be

    satisfied

    for

    a

    true

    belief

    to

    qualify

    as

    an

    instance

    of

    knowledge. Epistemic justification

    has been

    the

    most

    popular

    candidate

    for

    this

    third condition

    of

    knowledge,

    but

    a

    number

    of

    epistemologists

    have

    attempted

    to

    analyze knowledge

    without

    invoking epistemic

    justification.

    In

    this

    paper,

    I

    will

    discuss diverse

    episte?

    mological

    theories without

    worrying

    very

    much about

    whether

    or

    not

    they

    are

    theories

    of

    epistemic

    justification.

    7.

    See section

    3.

    8.

    Alvin

    Goldman,

    What

    is

    Justified

    Belief?,

    in

    Justification

    and

    Knowledge,

    ed.

    George

    Pappas

    (Dordrecht:

    Reidel,

    1979).

    9.

    Actually,

    this

    iswhat Goldman

    wants.

    See,

    ibid.,

    p.

    182.

    10. See, for example, L. BonJour, op. cit., p. 57, especially fn. 7.

    U.R.Chisholm,op.

    cit.,p.286.

    12. Keith

    Lehrer,

    Theory of

    Knowledge (Boulder:

    Westview

    Press,

    1990),

    pp.

    138-43.

    13.

    L.

    BonJour,

    op.

    cit.,

    p.

    8.

    14. I

    am

    not

    making

    the controversial claim that

    a

    belief

    is

    justified

    only

    if

    it

    has

    an

    objectively high

    probability

    of

    being

    true.

    (See

    Stewart

    cohen,

    Justification

    and

    Truth,

    Philosophical

    Studies,

    vol.

    46

    (1984),

    pp.

    279-96

    and John

    Pollock,

    Reliability

    and Justified

    Belief,

    Canadian

    Journal

    of Philosophy,

    vol.

    14

    (1984),

    pp.

    103-14).

    What

    I

    say

    is

    compatible

    with

    the

    subjectivist

    claim

    that

    S is

    justified

    in

    the belief

    that

    p

    if and

    only

    if S

    does her best

    in

    seeking

    truth

    with

    respect

    to

    believing

    that

    p,

    regardless

    of

    the

    actual

    probability

    of

    p's

    being

    true.

    15.

    W.

    V.

    O.

    Quine,

    The Nature

    of

    Natural

    Knowledge,

    in

    Mind and

    Language

    ed.,

    Samuel

    Guttenplan

    (Oxford:

    Clarendon

    Press,

    1975), p.

    67.

    16.

    Ernest

    Sosa,

    The

    Coherence

    of

    Virtue

    and

    the

    Virtue

    of

    Coherence,

    Synthese,

    vol.

    64

    (1985),

    pp.

    3-28,

    reprinted

    in

    Knowledge

    in

    Perspective (Cambridge:

    Cambridge

    University

    Press,

    1991),

    p.

    193.

    17.

    R.

    Chisholm,

    op.

    cit.,

    p.

    285.

    18. Robert

    Audi,

    Causalist

    Internalism,

    American

    Philosophical

    Quarterly,\o\.26 (1989),pp.309-20,p.

    309.

    19.

    William

    Alston,

    Epistemic

    Justification

    (Ithaca:

    Cornell

    University

    Press,

    1989),

    pp.

    4-5.

    20. For

    an

    example

    of

    a

    view

    that takes

    psychological

    states

    as

    internal,

    see

    the

    quotations

    from

    Audi

    and

    Alston

    on

    p.

    9

    of

    this

    essay.

    21.

    For

    the claim

    that

    detecting

    coherence

    among

    beliefs

    goes

    beyond

    human

    cognitive capacity,

    see

    Hilary

    Kornblith,

    The

    Unattainability

    of

    Internalist

    Coherentism,

    in John

    Bender

    ed.,

    The Current

    State

    of

    the

    Coherence

    Theory:

    Critical

    Essays

    on

    the

    Epistemic

    Theories

    of

    Keith

    Lehrer and Laurence

    BonJour,

    with

    Replies

    (Dordrecht:

    Kluwer

    Academic

    Publishers,

    1989),

    p.

    209 and

    Christopher

    Cherniak,

    Minimal

    Rationality (Cambridge:

    MIT

    Press,

    1986),

    chapter

    3.

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    22. See

    D.

    M.

    Armstrong,^

    Materialist

    Theory of

    theMind

    (London:

    Routledge

    and

    Kegan

    Paul,

    1968),

    pp.

    97-99.

    See also Evan

    Fales,

    Causation

    and

    Universals

    (London:

    Routledge,

    1990),

    pp.

    42-46.

    23.

    When

    necessary,

    I

    will

    point

    out

    some

    features that

    pertain uniquely

    to

    current

    theories

    of

    knowledge.

    24. See, Wilfrid Sellars, Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind, reprinted in his Science, Perc