AN EXAMINATION OFW.V.O. QUINE'S NATURALIZED EPISTEMOLOGY

Abstract

Before W.V.O. Quine came up with the idea of naturalizing epistemology, there were efforts by many philosophers to establish the fourth condition of knowledge. This search for a fourth condition was as a result of Gettier's thought experiment, which pointed out the flaws in the traditional account of knowledge. However, Quine's idea of naturalizing epistemology came after Rene Descartes and Rudolf Carnap were unable to succeed in their foundation program, a program that aimed to build a strong foundation in the search for the` edifice of knowledge. So, when the Carnapian and the Cartesian foundational program failed, Quine called for epistemology to be naturalized. His point is since there is no notable success in the search for the fourth condition of knowledge and since the foundational program of Descartes and Carnap did not work out, and since there is some level of certainty and objectiveness in natural scientific methods, epistemology should be naturalized. He emphasized that the issues in the theory of knowledge can be solved if philosophers embrace the methods of the natural sciences. There are many questions surrounding Quine's idea, for instance: we have the question of how a normative discipline like epistemology will become part of natural science, and why philosophers should shift their problems to the natural sciences when there are also unresolved issues in natural science, and many other questions. This work, therefore, examines naturalized epistemology to see the possibility of naturalizing epistemology and what comes of epistemology if it is naturalized.