Contrastivism
Encyclopedia
Contrastivism is an epistemological theory proposed by Jonathan Schaffer
that suggests that knowledge attributions have a ternary structure of the form 'S knows that p rather than q'. This is in contrast to the traditional view whereby knowledge attributions have a binary structure of the form 'S knows that p'. Contrastivism was suggested as an alternative to contextualism
. Both are semantic theories that try to explain skepticism using semantic methods.
and saying that the meaning of 'knows' can change with attributor context the contrastivist claims that it is the unspoken contrast clause that changes. This can be used to avoid skeptical problems.
Jonathan Schaffer
Jonathan Schaffer is an American philosopher specializing in Metaphysics and Epistemology.Since earning his PhD. from Rutgers in 1999, Schaffer has published 37 papers. He wrote his dissertation - "Causation and the Probabilities of Processes" - under Brian McLaughin. David Lewis served as...
that suggests that knowledge attributions have a ternary structure of the form 'S knows that p rather than q'. This is in contrast to the traditional view whereby knowledge attributions have a binary structure of the form 'S knows that p'. Contrastivism was suggested as an alternative to contextualism
Contextualism
Contextualism describes a collection of views in philosophy which emphasize the context in which an action, utterance, or expression occurs, and argues that, in some important respect, the action, utterance, or expression can only be understood relative to that context...
. Both are semantic theories that try to explain skepticism using semantic methods.
The Contrast Clause
The '...rather than q' part of the knowledge attribution is known as the 'contrast clause'. This is what separates it from traditional binary formulations. Rather than taking the same road as contextualismContextualism
Contextualism describes a collection of views in philosophy which emphasize the context in which an action, utterance, or expression occurs, and argues that, in some important respect, the action, utterance, or expression can only be understood relative to that context...
and saying that the meaning of 'knows' can change with attributor context the contrastivist claims that it is the unspoken contrast clause that changes. This can be used to avoid skeptical problems.