{"product_id":"epistemic-ecology-isbn-9780262551717","title":"Epistemic Ecology","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn ecological epistemology arguing that epistemic agents, communities, and environments adapt to one another to generate evolving understandings of the world.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMainstream epistemology focuses on static states. In \u003ci\u003eEpistemic Ecology\u003c\/i\u003e, Catherine Elgin adopts a dynamic stance, viewing epistemic subjects as agents rather than onlookers. She examines how, individually and collectively, we construct our epistemic practices, policies, principles, and procedures to overcome our limitations, exploit our assets, and correct our mistakes. Taking an ecological approach, she shows how human organisms and their social and natural environments mutually adjust to accommodate each other. Elgin’s ecological model of understanding reveals that epistemic agents and communities are interdependent and are more deeply implicated in the individuation and characterization of the phenomena they access than standard spectatorial approaches to epistemology assume. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eElgin maintains that a commitment’s epistemic acceptability turns in large part on its providing resources for further epistemic advancement. Epistemic progress is an iterative process that corrects, refines, and extends current understanding. Epistemic subjects are agents, not mere observers, and the positions they accept are springboards for improvement rather than windows into the world.  Responsible disagreement is an asset because it has the potential to identify and correct shortfalls in the views that are currently accepted.  Rather than treat epistemic success—knowledge, understanding, wisdom—as fixed and final, Elgin views success as a stable platform on which to build. How, she asks, should we leverage our findings to move beyond them? Her holistic conception of understanding is integral to education.Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e1 Epistemic Agency\u003cbr\u003e2 Epistemic Autonomy\u003cbr\u003e3 Epistemic Engagement\u003cbr\u003e4 Epistemic Dynamics\u003cbr\u003e5 Realms of Epistemic Ends\u003cbr\u003e6 Word Giving\u003cbr\u003e7 Word Taking\u003cbr\u003e8 Reasonable Disagreement\u003cbr\u003e9 Beyond the Information Given\u003cbr\u003e10 Constructive Nominalism\u003cbr\u003e11 Models as Felicitous Falsehoods\u003cbr\u003e12 Epistemic Gatekeepers\u003cbr\u003eReferences\u003cbr\u003eIndex“Catherine Z. Elgin has produced a masterful account of the subtle dynamics underpinning the social epistemology of science. Fiercely brilliant and very timely, this book is a joy to read in the way it unravels the warp and weft of scientific practice.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Michela Massimi, Professor of Philosophy of Science, University of Edinburgh\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eEpistemic Ecology\u003c\/i\u003e provides an illuminating and in places provocative account of this dynamic. Compellingly argued and beautifully written, the book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the roots and nature of knowledge.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Roman Frigg, Professor of Philosophy, London School of Economics and Political Science\u003c\/b\u003eCatherine Z. Elgin is Professor of the Philosophy of Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eTrue Enough\u003c\/i\u003e (MIT Press), \u003ci\u003eConsidered Judgment\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBetween the Absolute and the Arbitrary\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eWith Reference to Reference\u003c\/i\u003e and coauthor with Nelson Goodman of \u003ci\u003eReconceptions in Philosophy and Other Arts and Sciences\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303636750565,"sku":"NP9780262551717","price":65.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262551717.jpg?v=1767726326","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/epistemic-ecology-isbn-9780262551717","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}