|
|
|
|
|
|
Umeå Studies in the Humanities 145
The Structure of Knowing
Existential Trust as an Epistemological CategoryHildur Kalman |
||
|
Pris: SEK 167 + porto.
 beställ! SWEDISH SCIENCE PRESS Box 118 SE-751 04 Uppsala SWEDEN Telefon: +46 (0)18-36 55 66 Fax: +46 (0)18-36 52 77 ISSN 0345-0155 ISBN 91-7191-579-6 |
Starting from a view according to which all human activity is seen as an activity of a lived body, this thesis investigates the structure of knowing, and argues that existential trust has epistemological implications. In epistemology, trust has mostly been investigated in terms of trusting testimony and/or testifier. The thesis deepens that account by identifying a more fundamental kind of trust, namely trust in oneself and trust in the lived world. It is claimed that such existential trust is of epistemological importance, as it is necessary in all acts of knowing. The claim is put forth with recourse to the distinction between attending from and attending to, well known from the discussion about tacit knowledge. Existential trust is shown in the way we attend from something. It is argued that such basic epistemological categories as observation and reason should be supplemented by the category of trust. Without trust neither observation nor reason make a positive contribution to knowing.
|