Critical Introduction to Testimony

Axel Gelfert is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy, National University of Singapore.

Gelfert’s book is the very first systematic survey of the expanding philosophical sub-discipline that he calls “the epistemology of testimony”. The work is engagingly written and a model of clarity. [...] His coverage of the field is remarkable, with the principal theoretical issues all addressed and a good survey of some of the main areas of practical application, notably assessment of legal testimony and adjudication between expert witnesses. [...] Gelfert’s hybrid theory has many virtues. It overcomes the weaknesses of the principal rival accounts: unlike anti-reductionist default acceptance theories, it avoids the charge of licensing gullibility, while approving the hearer’s trusting attitude under appropriate circumstances; and, unlike reductionist accounts and certain other hybrid accounts, it avoids the charge of placing impossible burdens on recipients of testimony, while insisting ondue wariness under suspicious circumstances. It also does full justice to the roles of social settings and collaborative enterprises in the justification of testimony. A further and notable virtue of Gelfert’s inference to the best explanation based account is its flexibility, openness and suggestiveness of further lines of research.

• Introduction 1. What is Testimony? 2. The Testimonial Conundrum 3. Testimony, Perception, Memory, and Inference 4. Testimony and Evidence 5. Reductionism and Anti-Reductionism 6. Hybrid Theories of Testimony 7. Testimonial Knowledge: Transmission and Generation 8. Trust and Assurance 9. Expert Testimony 10. Pathologies of Testimony 11. Testimony and the Value of Knowledge Glossary Bibliography Index