Real Knowing: New Versions of Coherence Theory (review)

Abstract

Linda Alcoff's Real Knowing: New Versions of Coherence Theory is a timely contribution to a fast-growing body of research in "social epistemology," a field drawing the attention of philosophers, sociologists of knowledge, social constructionists, and others. Her book begins with an introductory chapter, laying out her project for a new paradigm of epistemology and the consequent metaphysical position that she calls "immanent realism." Alcoff follows with chapters on Gadamer, Davidson, Foucault, and Putnam, devoting two chapters each to Gadamer and Foucault. In these chapters, she shows how their works--Gadamer's hermeneutics, Davidson's account of truth, Foucault's analyses of discursive formations and his idea of power/knowledge, and Putnam's internal realism--contribute to her project. In the concluding chapter, Alcoff summarizes her coherentist theory of knowledge and distinguishes it from Michael Williams's contextualist epistemology in his Unnatural Doubts (Williams, 1996).