This seminar will start with some of my own papers as a skeleton to explore a series of issues. A recurring theme for several of them is the relation between traditional epistemic notions and their formal counterparts.
My own views have come under criticism for being incompatible with Bayesianism. If we manage to work through all these issues, you'll be in a good position to evaluate that criticism at the end of the semester.
How formal we get in the seminar will depend on the aptitudes and interests of the participants. I won't expect you to know very much formal epistemology at the start, but you should be willing to learn.
Faculty and so on are permitted to attend---though they should refrain from dominating the discussion. Philosophy grads from NYU and elsewhere are welcome; speak to me if you have questions about the suitability of your background. Other grad students must consult with me before registering for the course, to determine whether the seminar will be accessible.
Mondays 4-6 in 2nd floor Philosophy seminar room
The papers of mine we'll begin with are:
These will introduce many of the issues we'll be considering, in a synoptic if biased way.
Our other readings will mostly be drawn from the bibliography below. I do not expect us to discuss or read all of this list; it will be expanded or pruned as we proceed. What order we discuss issues in may also change in light of how our discussions go. But we'll begin with the order given above, as a proposal.
Many of the following papers I know to be useful; others I've just seen that people are working on and they sound relevant. Some of these latter papers may not yet be available.