Internalism Exposed

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Internalism Exposed Alvin I. Goldman The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 96, No. 6. (Jun., 1999), pp. 271-293. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-362X%28199906%2996%3A6%3C271%3AIE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L The Journal of Philosophy is currently published by Journal of Philosophy, Inc..

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THE J O U R N A L O F P H I L O S O P H Y \'OLU\IE XCVI, X 0 .

6, JUNE 1999

INTERNALISM EXPOSED4:

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n recent decades, epistemology has witnessed the development a n d growth of e x t e r n a l i s t t h e o r i e s of knowledge a n d justification.' Critics of externalism have focused a bright spotlight on this approach and judged it unsuitable for realizing the true and original goals of epistemology. Their own favored approach, internalism, is defended as a preferable approach to the traditional concept of epistemic justification.' I shall turn the spotlight toward internalism and its most prominent rationale, revealing f~lndamental problems at the core of internalism and challengi~lgthe viability of its most popular rationale. Although particular internalist theories such as (internalist) foundationalism and coherentism will occasionally be discussed, those specific theories are not my primary concern. :