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13. Knowledge Criteria / C. External Justification / 7. Testimony

[role of reports and beliefs of other people in justification]

18 ideas
We think testimony matches reality because of experience, not some a priori connection [Hume]
Good testimony needs education, integrity, motive and agreement [Hume, by PG]
We treat testimony with a natural trade off of belief and caution [Reid, by Fricker,M]
The reliability of witnesses depends on whether they benefit from their observations [Laplace, by Hacking]
Knowledge depends on believing others, which must be innate, as inferences are not strong enough [Putnam]
Empathy may not give knowledge, but it can give plausibility or right opinion [Putnam]
Unsupported testimony may still be believable [Fine,K]
Testimony does not just transmit knowledge between individuals - it actually generates knowledge [Kusch]
Vindicating testimony is an expression of individualism [Kusch]
Some want to reduce testimony to foundations of perceptions, memories and inferences [Kusch]
Testimony won't reduce to perception, if perception depends on social concepts and categories [Kusch]
A foundation is what is intelligible, hence from a rational source, and tending towards truth [Kusch]
Testimony is an area in which epistemology meets ethics [Kusch]
Powerless people are assumed to be unreliable, even about their own lives [Kusch]
Burge says we are normally a priori entitled to believe testimony [Fricker,M]
We assess testimonial probabilities by the speaker, the listener, the facts, and the circumstances [Fricker,M]
Testimonial judgement is not logical, but produces reasons and motivations [Fricker,M]
Assessing credibility involves the impact of both the speaker's and the listener's social identity [Fricker,M]