Laurence BonJour (born August 31, 1943) is an

American philosopher This is a list of American philosophers; of philosophers who are either from, or spent many productive years of their lives in the United States. {, border="0" style="margin:auto;" class="toccolours" , - ! {{MediaWiki:Toc , - , style="text-ali ...

and Emeritus of Philosophy at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Education and career

He received his bachelor's degrees in Philosophy and Political Science from

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...

and his doctorate in 1969 from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

with a dissertation directed by

Richard Rorty Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, he had strong interests and training in both the history of philosophy and in contemporary analytic phi ...

. Before moving to UW he taught at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Philosophical work

BonJour specializes in

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemolo ...

, and

British empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological theory that holds that knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empiri ...

, but is best-known for his contributions to epistemology. Initially defending

coherentism In philosophical epistemology, there are two types of coherentism: the coherence theory of truth; and the coherence theory of justification (also known as epistemic coherentism). Coherent truth is divided between an anthropological approach, whic ...

in his anti-foundationalist critique ''The Structure of Empirical Knowledge'' (1985), BonJour subsequently moved to defend

Cartesian Cartesian means of or relating to the French philosopher René Descartes—from his Latinized name ''Cartesius''. It may refer to: Mathematics *Cartesian closed category, a closed category in category theory *Cartesian coordinate system, modern ...

foundationalism Foundationalism concerns philosophical theories of knowledge resting upon non-inferential justified belief, or some secure foundation of certainty such as a conclusion inferred from a basis of sound premises.Simon Blackburn, ''The Oxford Dictio ...

in later work such as 1998's ''In Defense of Pure Reason''. The latter book is a sustained defense of ''

a priori ("from the earlier") and ("from the later") are Latin phrases used in philosophy to distinguish types of knowledge, justification, or argument by their reliance on empirical evidence or experience. knowledge is independent from current ex ...

'' justification, strongly criticizing empiricists and pragmatists who dismiss it (such as

W. V. O. Quine W. may refer to: * SoHo (Australian TV channel) (previously W.), an Australian pay television channel * ''W.'' (film), a 2008 American biographical drama film based on the life of George W. Bush * "W.", the fifth track from Codeine's 1992 EP ''Bar ...

and

). In 1980, Bonjour criticized the

reliabilism Reliabilism, a category of theories in the philosophical discipline of epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosop ...

Armstrong Armstrong may refer to: Places * Armstrong Creek (disambiguation), various places Antarctica * Armstrong Reef, Biscoe Islands Argentina * Armstrong, Santa Fe Australia * Armstrong, Victoria Canada * Armstrong, British Columbia * Armstrong ...

and

Goldman Goldman is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Alan J. Goldman (1932–2010), American expert in operations research *Alan H. Goldman (born 1945), American philosopher * Alan S. Goldman (born 1958), American chemist *Alain Go ...

, proposing internalist approach to epistemic truth and knowledge justification. He formulated the examples of a

clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the magical ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ("one who sees cl ...

and her reliable forecasts about the presence of the U.S. president in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Some years later, in his essay ''Externalist theories of empirical knowledge'' Bonjour extended his internalist criticism against the foundationalist theory, saying it was unable to provide enough reasons for justification and to solve the

regress problem In epistemology, the regress argument is the argument that any proposition requires a justification. However, any justification itself requires support. This means that any proposition whatsoever can be endlessly (infinitely) questioned, result ...

Publications

Books

*''The Structure of Empirical Knowledge'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), pp. xiii, 258. *''In Defense of Pure Reason'' (London: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. xiv, 232. *''Epistemology: Classic Problems and Contemporary Responses'' (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), pp. viii, 283. *''Epistemic Justification: Internalism vs. Externalism, Foundations vs. Virtues'' (jointly with

Ernest Sosa Ernest Sosa (born June 17, 1940) is an American philosopher primarily interested in epistemology. Since 2007 he has been Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, but he spent most of his career at Brown University. Educa ...

). (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003), pp. vii, 240. *''Philosophical Problems: An Annotated Anthology'' (jointly edited with Ann Baker) (New York: Longman, 2005), pp. xvi, 876.

Articles

*''"Sellars on Truth and Picturing"'', International Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 13 (1973), pp. 243–65. *''"Rescher's Idealistic Pragmatism"'', The Review of Metaphysics, vol. 29 (1976), pp. 702–26. *''"Determinism, Libertarianism, and Agent Causation"'', The Southern Journal of Philosophy, vol. 14 (1976), pp. 145–56. *''"The Coherence Theory of Empirical Knowledge"'', Philosophical Studies, vol. 30 (1976), pp. 281–312; reprinted in Paul Moser (ed.) Empirical Knowledge (Rowman & Littlefield, 1986), in Louis Pojman (ed.), The Theory of Knowledge (Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 1993), and in Michael Goodman and Robert A. Snyder (eds.) Contemporary Readings in Epistemology (Prentice-Hall, 1993). *''"Can Empirical Knowledge Have a Foundation?"'' American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 15 (1978), pp. 1–13; reprinted in Paul Moser (ed.), Empirical Knowledge (Totowa, N. J.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1986) and in Louis Pojman (ed.), The Theory of Knowledge (Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 1993). *''"Rescher's Philosophical System"'', in E. Sosa (ed.), The Philosophy of Nicholas Rescher (Dordrecht, the Netherlands: D. Reidel, 1979), pp. 157–72. *''"Externalist Theories of Empirical Knowledge"'', Midwest Studies in Philosophy, vol. 5 (1980), pp. 53–73. *''"Reply to Christlieb"'', The Southern Journal of Philosophy, vol. 24 (1986), pp. 415–29. *''"A Reconsideration of the Problem of Induction"'', Philosophical Topics, vol. 14 (1986), pp. 93–124. *''"Nozick, Externalism, and Skepticism"'', in S. Luper-Foy (ed.), The Possibility of Knowledge: Nozick and His Critics (Totowa, N. J.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1987), pp. 297–313. *''"Reply to Steup"'', Philosophical Studies, vol. *''"Reply to Moser"'', Analysis, vol. 48 (1988), pp. 164–65. *''"Replies and Clarifications"'', in J. W. Bender (ed.), The Current State of the Coherence Theory: Essays on the Epistemic Theories of Keith Lehrer and Laurence BonJour (Dordrecht, Holland: Kluwer, 1989), pp. 276–92. *''"Reply to Solomon"'', Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. *''"Is Thought a Symbolic Process?"'' Synthese, vol. 89 (1991), pp. 331–52. *''"A Rationalist Manifesto"'', Canadian Journal of Philosophy Supplementary Volume 18 (1992), pp. 53–88. *''"Fumerton on Coherence Theories"'', Journal of Philosophical Research, vol. 19 (1994), pp. 104–108. *''"Against Naturalized Epistemology"'', Midwest Studies in Philosophy, vol. 19 (1994), pp. 283–300. *''"Sosa on Knowledge, Justification, and 'Aptness'"'', Philosophical Studies, vol. 78 (1995), pp. 207–220. *''"Toward a Moderate Rationalism"'', Philosophical Topics, vol. 23 (1995), pp. 47–78. *''"Plantinga on Knowledge and Proper Function"'', in

Jonathan Kvanvig Jonathan Lee Kvanvig (born December 7, 1954) is Professor of Philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis. Kvanvig has published extensively in areas such as epistemology, philosophy of religion, logic, and philosophy of language. Some of his ...

(ed.), Warrant in Contemporary Epistemology ( Rowman & Littlefield, 1996), pp. 47–71. *''"Haack on Justification and Experience"'', Synthese. *''"The Dialectic of Foundationalism and Coherentism"'', in the Blackwell Guide to Epistemology, ed. John Greco and Ernest Sosa, Blackwell. *''"Toward a Defense of Empirical Foundationalism"'', in Michael DePaul (ed.), Resurrecting Old-Fashioned Foundationalism (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000). With a reply to criticisms by John Pollock and

Alvin Plantinga Alvin Carl Plantinga (born November 15, 1932) is an American analytic philosopher who works primarily in the fields of philosophy of religion, epistemology (particularly on issues involving epistemic justification), and logic. From 1963 to 1982, ...

. *''"Foundationalism and the External World"'', in James Tomberlin (ed.), Philosophical Perspectives, vol. 13 (2000). *Critical study of Evan Fales, A Defense of the Given, Nous. *''"The Indispensability of Internalism"'', Philosophical Topics. *''"Internalism and Externalism"'', in the Oxford Handbook of Epistemology, ed. Paul Moser.
Analytic Philosophy and the Nature of Thought
(Unpublished)

(Unpublished)

Encyclopedia and dictionary articles

*''"Externalism/Internalism"'' and ''"Problems of Induction"'', in E. Sosa & J. Dancy (eds.), A Companion To Epistemology (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992). *''"A Priori/A Posteriori"'', ''"Coherence Theory of Truth"'' and ''"Broad, Charlie Dunbar"'' in The Cambridge Dictionary Of Philosophy, ed. Robert Audi, Cambridge University Press, 1995. *''"Coherence Theory of Truth and Knowledge"'', in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. *''"Epistemological Problems of Perception"'', in the on-line Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Reviews

*Of Gilbert Harman, Thought, Philosophical Review, vol. 84 (1975), pp. 256–58. *Of R. M. Dworkin (ed.), Philosophy of Law; and Kenneth Kipnis (ed.), Philosophical Issues in Law, Teaching Philosophy, vol. 2 (1977–78), pp. 325–28. *Of James Cornman, Skepticism, Justification, and Explanation, Philosophical Review, vol. 91 (1982), pp. 612–15. *Of D. J. O'Connor and Brian Carr, Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge, Teaching Philosophy, vol. 7 (1984), pp. 64–66. *Of Paul Ziff, Epistemic Analysis, Canadian Philosophical Reviews *Of Lorraine Code, Epistemic Responsibility, Philosophical Review. *Of Alan Goldman, Empirical Knowledge, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. *Of Robert Fogelin, Pyrrhonian Reflections on Knowledge and Justification, Times Literary Supplement. *Of Michael DePaul and William Ramsey (eds.), Rethinking Intuition, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. *Of Paul Boghossian and Christopher Peacocke (eds.), New Essays on the A Priori, forthcoming in Mind.

References

External links

Laurence BonJour
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonjour, Laurence 1943 births 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American philosophers Analytic philosophers Epistemologists Living people Logicians Metaphysicians Ontologists Philosophers of logic Philosophers of mind University of Washington faculty Macalester College alumni Princeton University alumni University of Texas at Austin faculty