Easy Knowledge, Transmission Failure, and Empiricism

Abstract

This paper discusses a particular epistemological puzzle that is a version of what has sometimes been called “the problem of easy knowledge.” It begins by spelling out what the problem is. It is then argued that recent attempts to address the problem (from Jonathan Weisberg, Michael Titelbaum, and Chris Tucker) all fail. Finally, a principle (very similar to one that Crispin Wright has recently defended) that solves the problem is articulated. The common objection to this principle—an objection that Wright, for instance, accepts—is that it is inconsistent with a plausible empiricism. It is argued that this objection fails: in fact, the principle is fully consistent with any plausible empiricism.