Ryle vs. intellectualism: a case study in philosophical method

Brandt S (2025)


Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

Book Volume: 206

Article Number: 65

Journal Issue: 2

DOI: 10.1007/s11229-025-05112-5

Abstract

I compare Gilbert Ryle’s anti-intellectualist account of knowledge how with the influential intellectualist alternative defended by Jason Stanley and Timothy Williamson (in Stanley & Williamson, 2001). I argue that the contrast between these positions is not as clear as is commonly assumed. I trace this unclarity to a failure on the part of Stanley and Williamson to provide a clear and meaningful account of knowledge how. I attribute this failure to their approach to philosophical analysis, an approach Ryle shared earlier in his career but had abandoned at the time he wrote about knowledge how. I conclude with a few more general remarks about when the kind of philosophical analysis Stanley and Williamson are practicing is useful and when it is not.

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How to cite

APA:

Brandt, S. (2025). Ryle vs. intellectualism: a case study in philosophical method. Synthese, 206(2). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-025-05112-5

MLA:

Brandt, Stefan. "Ryle vs. intellectualism: a case study in philosophical method." Synthese 206.2 (2025).

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