Semantical Contextualism

Abstract

Contextualism is an epistemological claim that truth-conditions of knowledge ascribing sentences depend on context in which they are uttered. The discussion concerned with its background and assumptions is predominant in recent epistemology. However, contextualism is known better as the suggested solution for skepticism about the external world. In this paper I present one of the most important contextualist theory which have been proposed in 90's by Keith DeRose. In what follows I outline this proposal's main sources, i.e. i) a relevant alternative theory, ii) Nozick's definition of knowledge and iii) two earlier contextualist ideas made by David Lewis and Gail Stine. Next, I consider some weak aspects of this theory that have been pointed out by critics.