Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

E pistemology A necessity that can be deduced from a thinker's other beliefs, and is generally associated with the “must” of certainty. It is a relation between certain features, showing the dependence of one thing on another. Enquiry establishes such an epistemological necessity between the phenomenon to be explained and its necessary conditions. For instance, we will say, “it must be painful” if we see somebody struck by a stone. “When it is shown that certain features are equally essential; when it is shown that certain features are interconnected so that some are necessary for others; when it is shown that certain features are not so closely connected as might be assumed, it is epistemological necessity, closeness, or lack of connection that is being demonstrated.” Harrison, On What There Must Be ... log in or subscribe to read full text