Conceptualizing personal epistemology as beliefs about knowledge and knowing: A grammatical investigation

Abstract

Personal epistemology is a research area that concerns beliefs about knowledge and knowing. We attempt to clarify what researchers mean by this phenomenon and what the coherent forms of use of this description are. We outline the current state of personal epistemology in terms of theoretical perspectives and argue that conceptual analysis is necessary in order for researchers to clarify the conceptualization of the phenomenon under study. We then analyze beliefs about knowledge and knowing through grammatical investigations, i.e., their standard everyday uses, in order to determine the sense of current conceptualizations of personal epistemology. Drawing primarily on the work of Bennett and Hacker, we examine the issue of whether epistemological beliefs should be thought of as mental states, dispositions, theories, or bodies of knowledge. We discuss the implications of these analyses for the study of personal epistemology.