Laurence BonJour (born August 31, 1943) is
an American philosopher and Emeritus of Philosophy
at the University of Washington.
== Education and career ==
He received his bachelor's degrees in Philosophy
and Political Science from Macalester College
and his doctorate in 1969 from Princeton University
with a dissertation directed by Richard Rorty.
Before moving to UW he taught at the University
of Texas at Austin.
== Philosophical work ==
His areas of specialty include epistemology,
Kant, and British empiricism.
BonJour is best known for his contributions
to epistemology. Initially defending coherentism
in his anti-foundationalist critique The Structure
of Empirical Knowledge, BonJour has since
moved to defend Cartesian foundationalism
in such works as Epistemology and In Defense
of Pure Reason. The latter book is a sustained
defense of a priori justification, strongly
criticizing empiricists and pragmatists who
dismiss it (such as W. V. O. Quine and Richard
Rorty).
== Publications ==
=== Books ===
The Structure of Empirical Knowledge. (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), pp. xiii,
258.
In Defense of Pure Reason. (London: Cambridge
University Press, 1998), pp. xiv, 232.
Epistemology: Classic Problems and Contemporary
Responses. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield,
2002), pp. viii, 283.
Epistemic Justification: Internalism vs. Externalism,
Foundations vs. Virtues (jointly with Ernest
Sosa). (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003), pp. vii,
240.
Philosophical Problems: An Annotated Anthology
(jointly edited with Ann Baker). (New York:
Longman, 2005), pp. xvi, 876.
=== Articles ===
"Sellars on Truth and Picturing", International
Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 13 (1973), pp.
243–65.
"Rescher's Idealistic Pragmatism", The Review
of Metaphysics, vol. 29 (1976), pp. 702–26.
"Determinism, Libertarianism, and Agent Causation",
The Southern Journal of Philosophy, vol. 14
(1976), pp. 145–56.
"The Coherence Theory of Empirical Knowledge",
Philosophical Studies, vol. 30 (1976), pp.
281–312; reprinted in Paul Moser (ed.) Empirical
Knowledge (Rowman & Littlefield, 1986), in
Louis Pojman (ed.), The Theory of Knowledge
(Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 1993), and
in Michael Goodman and Robert A. Snyder (eds.)
Contemporary Readings in Epistemology (Prentice-Hall,
1993).
"Can Empirical Knowledge Have a Foundation?"
American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 15
(1978), pp. 1–14; reprinted in Paul Moser
(ed.), Empirical Knowledge (Totowa, N. J.:
Rowman & Littlefield, 1986) and in Louis Pojman
(ed.), The Theory of Knowledge (Belmont, California:
Wadsworth, 1993).
"Rescher's Philosophical System", in E. Sosa
(ed.), The Philosophy of Nicholas Rescher
(Dordrecht, the Netherlands: D. Reidel, 1979),
pp. 157–72.
"Externalist Theories of Empirical Knowledge",
Midwest Studies in Philosophy, vol. 5 (1980),
pp. 53–73.
"Reply to Christlieb", The Southern Journal
of Philosophy, vol. 24 (1986), pp. 415–29.
"A Reconsideration of the Problem of Induction",
Philosophical Topics, vol. 14 (1986), pp.
93–124.
"Nozick, Externalism, and Skepticism", in
S. Luper-Foy (ed.), The Possibility of Knowledge:
Nozick and His Critics (Totowa, N. J.: Rowman
& Littlefield, 1987), pp. 297–313.
"Reply to Steup", Philosophical Studies, vol.
"Reply to Moser", Analysis, vol. 48 (1988),
pp. 164–65.
"Replies and Clarifications", in J. W. Bender
(ed.), The Current State of the Coherence
Theory: Essays on the Epistemic Theories of
Keith Lehrer and Laurence BonJour (Dordrecht,
Holland: Kluwer, 1989), pp. 276–92.
"Reply to Solomon", Philosophy and Phenomenological
Research.
"Is Thought a Symbolic Process?" Synthese,
vol. 89 (1991), pp. 331–52.
"A Rationalist Manifesto", Canadian Journal
of Philosophy Supplementary Volume 18 (1992),
pp. 53–88.
"Fumerton on Coherence Theories", Journal
of Philosophical Research, vol. 19 (1994),
pp. 104–108.
"Against Naturalized Epistemology", Midwest
Studies in Philosophy, vol. 19 (1994), pp.
283–300.
"Sosa on Knowledge, Justification, and 'Aptness'",
Philosophical Studies, vol. 78 (1995), pp.
207–220.
"Toward a Moderate Rationalism", Philosophical
Topics, vol. 23 (1995), pp. 47–78.
"Plantinga on Knowledge and Proper Function",
in Jonathan Kvanvig (ed.), Warrant in Contemporary
Epistemology ( Rowman & Littlefield, 1996),
pp. 47–71.
"Haack on Justification and Experience", Synthese.
"The Dialectic of Foundationalism and Coherentism",
in the Blackwell Guide to Epistemology, ed.
John Greco and Ernest Sosa, Blackwell.
"Toward a Defense of Empirical Foundationalism",
in Michael DePaul (ed.), Resurrecting Old-Fashioned
Foundationalism (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman
& Littlefield, 2000). With a reply to criticisms
by John Pollock and Alvin Plantinga.
"Foundationalism and the External World",
in James Tomberlin (ed.), Philosophical Perspectives,
vol. 13 (2000).
Critical study of Evan Fales, A Defense of
the Given, Nous.
"The Indispensability of Internalism", Philosophical
Topics.
"Internalism and Externalism", in the Oxford
Handbook of Epistemology, ed. Paul Moser.
Analytic Philosophy and the Nature of Thought
(Unpublished)
What is it Like to be a Human (Instead of
a Bat)? (Unpublished)
=== Encyclopedia and dictionary articles ===
"Externalism/Internalism" and "Problems of
Induction", in E. Sosa & J. Dancy (eds.),
A Companion To Epistemology (Oxford: Blackwell,
1992).
"A Priori/A Posteriori", "Coherence Theory
of Truth" and "Broad, Charlie Dunbar" in The
Cambridge Dictionary Of Philosophy, ed. Robert
Audi, Cambridge University Press, 1995.
"Coherence Theory of Truth and Knowledge",
in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
"Epistemological Problems of Perception",
in the on-line Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
=== Reviews ===
Of Gilbert Harman, Thought, Philosophical
Review, vol. 84 (1975), pp. 256–58.
Of R. M. Dworkin (ed.), Philosophy of Law;
and Kenneth Kipnis (ed.), Philosophical Issues
in Law, Teaching Philosophy, vol. 2 (1977–78),
pp. 325–28.
Of James Cornman, Skepticism, Justification,
and Explanation, Philosophical Review, vol.
91 (1982), pp. 612–15.
Of D. J. O'Connor and Brian Carr, Introduction
to the Theory of Knowledge, Teaching Philosophy,
vol. 7 (1984), pp. 64–66.
Of Paul Ziff, Epistemic Analysis, Canadian
Philosophical Reviews
Of Lorraine Code, Epistemic Responsibility,
Philosophical Review.
Of Alan Goldman, Empirical Knowledge, Philosophy
and Phenomenological Research.
Of Robert Fogelin, Pyrrhonian Reflections
on Knowledge and Justification, Times Literary
Supplement.
Of Michael DePaul and William Ramsey (eds.),
Rethinking Intuition, British Journal for
the Philosophy of Science.
Of Paul Boghossian and Christopher Peacocke
(eds.), New Essays on the A Priori, forthcoming
in Mind.
== See also ==
American philosophy
List of American philosophers
== References ==
== External links ==
Laurence BonJour
