The major divide in contemporary epistemology is between those who embrace and those who reject a priori knowledge. Albert Casullo provides a systematic treatment of the primary epistemological issues associated with the controversy. By freeing the a priori from traditional assumptions about the nature of knowledge and justification, he offers a novel approach to resolving these issues which assigns a prominent role to empirical evidence. He concludes by arguing that traditional approaches to the a priori, which focus primarily on the concepts of necessity and analyticity, are misguided.

Introduction 1 The Contemporary Divide. 2 The Kantian Background. 3 Synopsis. Part I: What is A Priori Knowledge? 1. The Leading Proposals. 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 Two Taxonomies. 1.3 Nonepistemic Analyses. 1.4 Nonepistemic Conditions. 1.5 Strength and Defeasibility Conditions. 1.6 Source Conditions. 1.7 Conclusion. 2. Two Conceptions of A Priori Justification. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Two Competing Demands. 2.3 General Epistemology. 2.4 The Supporting Intuitions. 2.5 The Case for (AP1). 2.6 Objections to (AP1). 2.7 A Third Conception of A Priori Justification. 2.8 Conclusion. 3. Fallible A Priori Justification. 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Two Senses of Infallibility. 3.3 Three Senses of Fallible A Priori Justification. 3.4 P-fallibility and A Priori Justification. 3.5 Two Inconsistent Accounts. 3.6 Conclusion. Part II: Is There A Priori Knowledge? 4. The Supporting Arguments. 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 Conceptual Arguments. 4.3 Criterial Arguments: Necessity. 4.4 Criterial Arguments: Irrefutability. 4.5 Criterial Arguments: Certainty. 4.6 Deficiency Arguments. 4.7 Coherentist Radical Empiricism. 4.8 Foundationalist Radical Empiricism. 4.9 Conclusion. 5. The Opposing Arguments. 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Conceptual Arguments. 5.3 Radical Empiricist Accounts. 5.4 Incompatibility Arguments. 5.5 Philosophical Naturalism. 5.6 Scientific Naturalism. 5.7 Conclusion. 6. Toward Resolution. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 The Concept of Experience. 6.3 A Priori Justification. 6.4 Objections Considered. 6.5 Conclusion. Part III: What Are the Relationships? 7. A Priori Knowledge and Necessary Truth. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Kant's Strategy. 7.3 Kripke's Reaction. 7.4 Complications. 7.5 Kant Revisited. 7.6 Rationalism. 7.7 The Contingent A Priori. 7.8 Conclusion. 8. A Priori Knowledge and Analytic Truth. 8.1 Introduction. 8.2 Kant's Assumptions. 8.3 Three Reactions. 8.4 Rejecting the Synthetic A Priori by Cases. 8.5 Rejecting the Synthetic A Priori by General Argument. 8.6 Denying the Cogency of the Distinction. 8.7 Conclusion. Bibliography Index

Albert CasulloProfessor of Philosophy, University of Nebraska at Lincoln

"I have little doubt that the book will set the standard for discussions of the a priori within externalist epistemology for decades to come."--International Philosophical Quarterly |k No