The state of knowing

Abstract

A form of conceptual enquiry into knowledge is defended on which there is no opposition between enquiry into the concept and enquiring into the phenomenon. A non-reductive approach to epistemology is outlined on which ways of telling are crucial to the explanation of what knowledge is. Examples include telling that a bird is a robin by looking at it or telling that deer have passed by from tracks on a path. The emerging account is designed to make sense of our ready access to facts about what we and others know and of the value we place on knowledge.