Richard Fumerton

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Richard Fumerton
Born (1949-10-07) October 7, 1949 (age 71)
Toronto, Ontario
EducationUniversity of Toronto (B.A.)
Brown University (M.A., PhD)
EraContemporary philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
SchoolAnalytic philosophy
ThesisPhenomenalism (1974)
Doctoral advisorsRoderick Chisholm, Ernest Sosa, J. Van Cleve[1]
Main interests
epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, value theory
Notable ideas
  • metaepistemological scepticism
  • principle of inferential justification

Richard Anthony Fumerton (born October 7, 1949)[2] is a Canadian American philosopher and professor of philosophy at the University of Iowa with research interests in epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind and value theory.[3][4][5] He has been cited as an influential expert on the position of "metaepistemological scepticism".[6] He received his B.A. in philosophy from the University of Toronto in 1971 and his M.A. and PhD from Brown University in 1973 and 1974, respectively.[2][5][7] He has been the F. Wendell Miller Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa since 2003.[8]

Philosophical views[]

Fumerton argues for a conception of foundational justification that guarantees the truth of foundationally justified beliefs. He also argues for classical internalist foundationalism, the view that there are non-inferentially justified beliefs which are justified by direct acquaintance.[3] However, Fumerton argues that external objects are not the objects of acquaintance, instead arguing that the objects of acquaintance are the contents of the mind, and that given this fact we cannot have the philosophical assurance required for knowledge about the external world.[3][6] He has argued that whilst externalist theories of justification provide non-inferentially justified beliefs about the external world, these justifications are "philosophically unsatisfying" and cannot provide philosophical assurance for beliefs about the external world.[6] Given these arguments, Fumerton thinks that there is no philosophically satisfying account of how we could know about the external world, a view known as "metaepistemological scepticism".[6][9] He has also argued for a "principle of inferential justification" that states that for a subject S to be justified in believing a proposition P on the basis of another proposition E, S must be justified in believing that E and they must be justified in believing that E makes P probable.[6]

Honors and awards[]

  • Michael J. Brody Award (for Faculty Service), 2016
  • University of Iowa Presidential Lecturer, Spring, 2016
  • F. Wendell Miller Professorship, 2003–present
  • Regents Award for Faculty Excellence, 1997
  • Collegiate Teaching Award, University of Iowa, 1996
  • M. L. Huitt Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of Iowa, 1994
  • Canada Council Fellow, 1973–74
  • Woodrow Wilson Fellow, 1971–72

Publications[]

  • A Consequentialist Defense of Libertarianism. Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
  • Knowledge, Thought and the Case for Dualism. Camridge University Press, 2013.
  • An Introduction to Political Philosophy: Theory and Applications, co-edited with Diane Jeske. Broadview Press, 2012.
  • Philosophy Through Film, co-edited with Diane Jeske. Blackwell Publishing, 2009.
  • The Philosophy of John Stuart Mill, with Wendy Donner. Blackwell Publishing, 2009.
  • Epistemology. Oxford and Cambridge: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
  • Realism and The Correspondence Theory of Truth. Boston: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002.
  • Metaepistemology and Skepticism. Boston: Rowman & Littlefield, 1996.
  • Reason and Morality: A Defense of the Egocentric Perspective. Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 1990.
  • Metaphysical and Epistemological Problems of Perception. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1985.

References[]

  1. ^ "Doctoral Dissertations, 1974". The Review of Metaphysics. 28 (1): 166–189. 1974. ISSN 0034-6632. JSTOR 20126618.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Richard Fumerton Curriculum Vitae, available via The University of Iowa
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c DePaul, Michael R. (2015). "Richard Fumerton". In Audi, Robert (ed.). The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (Third ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 397–398. ISBN 978-1-139-05750-9.
  4. ^ Visser, Daniel (2011). Thinking about Law. Siber Ink. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-920025-80-9.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Richard Fumerton | Department of Philosophy | College of Liberal Arts & Sciences". The University of Iowa. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Pritchard, Duncan; Ranalli, Chris (2016). "On Metaepistemological Scepticism" (PDF). In Bergmann, Michael; Coppenger, Brett (eds.). Intellectual Assurance: Essays on Traditional Epistemic Internalism. Oxford University Press. Since at least the mid-1990s, there has been a wave of ‘anti-externalist’ replies to externalist responses to scepticism. Richard Fumerton has been one of the most influential figures in this wave, and alongside Barry Stroud his contributions to this debate are the most well-known. Indeed, one often finds Fumerton and Stroud being jointly identified as defenders of a position known as ‘metaepistemological scepticism’.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  7. ^ Mulugeta, Mikael (2016-01-27). "Talking political philosophy and freedom". Iowa Now. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
  8. ^ "Richard Fumerton". Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. Georgetown University. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
  9. ^ Ranalli, Chris (2015). Meta-Epistemological Scepticism: Criticisms and a Defence (PDF) (PhD thesis). The University of Edinburgh. pp. 1-2.

Further reading[]

Foley, Richard (2014). Some Features of Richard Fumerton's Philosophical Views (PDF). 6th Annual Orange Beach Epistemology Workshop. University of South Alabama.

Fumerton, Richard (2010). "Richard Fumerton self-profile". In Dancy, Jonathan; Sosa, Ernest; Steup, Matthias (eds.). A Companion to Epistemology (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 139–143. ISBN 978-1-4051-3900-7.

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