Testimony

Concept · 2 readings

When do someone’s words give us knowledge? Trust, correction and unfair judgments of credibility all bear on the answer.

All readings

2 readings · Title A–Z

Guided course · Module 3 · Lesson 9
How can we tell whether we know?
Nyāya counts perception, inference and testimony among the ways of coming to know, and sets out an inference in five steps. How can inquiry check its own instruments without demanding certainty in advance?
Guided course · Module 13 · Lesson 78
Who is heard, and who is treated as credible?
Fricker separates prejudice against a speaker from gaps in shared understanding and proposes remedies; Harding argues for changing where inquiry begins. The lesson adds that a starting point still needs testing.