Predestinasi

Volume 13, No. 1, Juni 2020, Hal. 15- 26

ISSN (Print): 1978-9351

An Appraisal of Alvin Goldman’s Social Epistemology

Elias Ifeanyi E. Uzoigwe

Department of Philosophy, University of Calabar, Nigeria
e-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

This work is aimed at giving an insight into the issues raised by Goldman in his argument that
social epistemology is ‘real epistemology’. Goldman wants to convince the mainstream
epistemologists and the philosophical world in general that social epistemology is real
epistemology by distinguishing between three forms of social epistemology: revisionist,
preservationist, and expansionist. These three forms of social epistemology construed and
proposed by Goldman differ in how they relate to the basic assumptions of traditional/classical
epistemology. While acknowledging the various authors for their divergent views and
contributions to social epistemic discourse, this work holds that though Goldman, more than any
other social epistemologist, raised a fresh perspective in social epistemology, yet, there is a
missing link in his submission. Goldman’s preservationist social epistemology, which he argued
is “real epistemology”, fails to give at least, a spotlight on what this work calls historical social
epistemology. This does not in any way downplay Goldman’s giant stride in awakening
epistemologists from their slumber which led some scholars to include issues like analytic social
epistemology, diagnostic social epistemology, naturalistic social epistemology, and political
social epistemology in the epistemic lexicon; and by so doing, expanding the frontiers of the
epistemic domain of philosophical enterprise. It is the position of this research that Goldman’s
social epistemology elicited a renewed interest in epistemologists and scholars alike in the
social dimension of knowledge. This work employs historical, conceptual, contextual, and
textual methods of analyses.

Keywords: Social Epistemology; Revisionism; Preservationism; Expansionism; Historical

Social Epistemology

INTRODUCTION

The social dimension of knowledge has been unduly neglected, and scholars, especially
those of the epistemic divide consider it imperative to strike the balance; and as a result,
socialising movements also emerged, because, for them, knowledge has a social perspective.
The movement does not reject a concern for individual epistemic decision making, but it finds at
least equal importance in the study of epistemic decision making in social contexts (Goldman
and Blanchard, 2018, p. 6). Similarly, until recently the orientation of both historical and
contemporary epistemology has been heavily individualistic. The emphasis has been on choices
among belief, disbelief, and agnosticism (suspension of judgment) that confront individual
epistemic agents. Such agents are assumed to observe the world (or their own minds) and reflect
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on the resulting evidence via their own cognitive powers. Such a perspective was dramatized by
Descartes 350 years ago, and it has continued to dominate the epistemological scene (Goldman
and Blanchard, 2018, p. 6).
Social epistemology (SE) like other contemporary concepts in philosophy has not enjoyed
a conventionally acceptable definition. Scholars define social epistemology from a variegated
approach of their schools of thought and orientations. Social epistemology can be construed as a
broad set of approaches that can be employed in the study of knowledge that conceives human
knowledge as a collective achievement. It could be likened to Mbiti’s “I am because we are”,
looking at it from the African context. Another way of characterising social epistemology is
that it is an appraisal of the social dimension of knowledge. Sometimes social epistemology is
construed as a social justification of belief (Sarachukwuaka 2017, p. 40). From another
perspective, SE can be characterised as the evaluation of the social dimensions of knowledge or
information. It is sometimes simplified to mean a social justification of knowledge
(stanford.library.edu.au. Retrieved 24-9-2019). Social epistemology is associated with the
interdisciplinary field of science and technology studies (STS). Goldman describes social
epistemology as knowledge derived from one's interactions with another person, group, or
society.
Notable among social epistemologists are: Alvin Goldman, Steve Fuller, Thomas Kuhn,
Martin Kush, Thomas Blanchard, Edward Craig, John Hardwig and a host of others. However,
the perspective of this research is on Alvin Goldman’s approach to social epistemology. This
does not preclude the fact that the works of the other scholars will be cited along with
Goldman's in order to give this work a more academic undertone. It is Goldman’s view that
there are three forms of social epistemology namely: revisionist, preservationist, and
expansionist. Goldman argued that of all these, preservationist social epistemology is ‘real
epistemology’, because it shares some basic features with traditional epistemology. This work
says thumbs up for Goldman for his renewed effort and interest and multi in Pavo contributions
in this almost forgotten epistemic divide; however, he lost sight of its historical dimension.

A HISTORICAL SURVEY OF SOCIAL EPISTEMOLOGY

Social epistemology did not happen abruptly. However, it is the thinking of William
Alston that the boundaries of epistemology are controversial. Social epistemology can be
historically traced back to the Socratic era of philosophical inquiry. The consideration of the
social dimension of knowledge in relation to philosophy started in 380 B.C.E with Plato's
dialogue: Charmides (Sarachukwuaka 2017, p. 46). In his dialogue, Plato questioned the degree
of certainty an unprofessional in a field can have towards a person's claim to be a specialist in
that same field. As the findings of dependence on authoritative figures constitute a part of the
study of social epistemology, it confirms the existence of the ideology in minds long before it
was given its label.
` In 1936, Karl Mannheim turned Karl Marx's theory of ideology into an analysis of how
the human society develops and functions, and was showcased to the academic world. Marx’s
theory interpreted the “social” aspect in epistemology to be of a political or sociological nature.
Philosophical issues like epistemic value of testimony, the nature and function of expertise,
proper distribution of cognitive labour and resources among individuals in the communities and
the status of group reasoning and knowledge began to appeal to philosophers in the
1970s.Succinctly put,
The social dimension of knowledge was not pronounced in the ancient, medieval, and
modern epochs of philosophical discourse. Though, we cannot deny the fact that Plato’s
dialogue has something epistemologists can extrapolate from it in to make it a launching
 Elias Ifeanyi E. Uzoigwe; An Appraisal of Alvin Goldman’s Social Epistemology |17

pad for social epistemology. As it were, it was not until the 1970s that there was a
powerful development of interest among philosophers (Sarachukwuaka 2017, p. 79).

THE RISE OF SOCIAL EPISTEMOLOGY IN THE CONTEMPORARY ERA

It is difficult to say who actually coined the two words “social epistemology” (SE),
especially as it is understood in the 21st century epistemology. What is historically evident is
that the term “social epistemology” was used for the very first time in the 1950s by the library
scientists namely, Margaret Egan and Jesse Shera. In 1979, Steven Shapin (1994) also employed
the term SE (Roy 2016, p. 62). It was not until the late 1980s that its current sense began to
emerge. In 1987, the philosophical journal Synthese published a special issue on social
epistemology which included two authors that have since taken the branch of epistemology in
two divergent directions (Alvin Goldman and O'Connor 2019).
It is remarkable to note that Fuller founded a journal called Social Epistemology: A
journal of knowledge, culture, and policy in 1987 and published his first book, Social
Epistemology in 1988. Goldman's Knowledge in a Social World was published in 1999.
Goldman advocates for a type of epistemology that is sometimes called “veritistic
epistemology” because of its large emphasis on truth. This type of epistemology is sometimes
seen to side with “essentialism” as opposed to “multiculturalism”. But Goldman has argued that
this association between veritistic epistemology and essentialism is not necessary (Zanzy 2015,
p. 213).
Goldman looks into one of the two strategies of the socialization of epistemology. This
strategy includes the evaluation of social factors that impact knowledge formed on true belief.
In contrast, Fuller takes preference for the second strategy that defines knowledge influenced by
social factors as collectively accepted belief. (Alvin Goldman and O'Connor 2019). In 2012, on
the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Social Epistemology, Fuller reflected upon the history
and the prospects of the field, including the need for social epistemology to re-connect with the
larger issues of knowledge production first identified by Charles Sanders Peirce as cognitive
economy and nowadays often pursued by the library and information science. As for the
“analytic social epistemology”, to which Goldman has been a significant contributor, Fuller
concludes that it has “failed to make significant progress owing, in part, to a minimal
understanding of actual knowledge practices, a minimised role for philosophers in ongoing
inquiry, and a focus on maintaining the status quo of epistemology as a field (Roy 2016, p. 32).
The basic view of knowledge that motivated the emergence of social epistemology as it is
perceived today can be traced to the work of Thomas Kuhn and Michel Foucault, which gained
acknowledgment at the end of the 1960s. Both brought historical concerns directly to bear on
problems long associated with the philosophy of science. Perhaps the most notable issue here
was the nature of truth, which both Kuhn and Foucault described as a relative and contingent
notion. On this background, ongoing work in the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) and
the history and philosophy of science (HPS) was able to assert its epistemological
consequences, leading most notably to the establishment of the strong programme at the
University of Edinburgh. In terms of the two strands of social epistemology, Fuller is more
sensitive and receptive to this historical trajectory (if not always in agreement) than Goldman,
whose “veritistic” social epistemology can be reasonably read as a systematic rejection of the
more extreme claims associated with Kuhn and Foucault (Hilary, 2015, p. 113).

Social Epistemology as a Field within Analytic Philosophy

As a field within analytic philosophy, social epistemology foregrounds the social aspects
of knowledge creation and dissemination. What precisely these social aspects are, and whether
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they have beneficial or detrimental effects upon the possibilities to create, acquire and spread
knowledge is a subject of continuous debate (Alvin Goldman and O'Connor 2019). Within the
field, “the social” is approached in two complementary and not mutually exclusive ways: “the
social” character of knowledge can either be approached through inquiries in inter-individual
epistemic relations or through inquiries focusing on epistemic communities. The inter-individual
approach typically focuses on issues such as testimony, epistemic trust as a form of trust placed
by one individual in another, epistemic dependence, epistemic authority, etc. The community
approach typically focuses on issues such as community standards of justification, community
procedures of critique, diversity, epistemic justice, and collective knowledge (Alvin Goldman
and O'Connor 2019).
Social epistemology as a field within analytic philosophy has close ties to, and often
overlaps with feminist epistemology and philosophy of science. While a part of the field
engages in abstract, normative considerations of knowledge creation and dissemination, other
parts of the field are “naturalized epistemology” in the sense that they draw on empirically
gained insights. And while parts of the field are concerned with analytic considerations of a
rather general character, case-based and domain-specific inquiries in, e.g., knowledge creation
in collaborative scientific practice, knowledge exchange on online platforms, or knowledge
gained in learning institutions play an important role (Hilary 2015, p, 117).

ALVIN GOLDMAN’S SOCIAL EPISTEMOLOGY

As one of the outstanding exponents of social epistemology, Goldman has written
extensively on the subject which, as noted above, he construes as a field within analytic
philosophy. Among his writings, three remain outstanding as it concerns his position on social
epistemology. They include: Knowledge in a Social World (KSW published in 1999), Why
Social Epistemology is Real Epistemology (WSERE published in 2001); and another work he
titled, Social Epistemology (SE 1999), which he co-authored with Thomas Blanchard, and was
later reviewed and modified in 2012.
Goldman (2002) defined social epistemology from two perspectives. According to one
perspective, social epistemology is a branch of traditional epistemology that studies epistemic
properties of individuals that arise from their relation to others, as well as epistemic properties
of groups or social systems. A simple example (of the first sort) is the transmission of
knowledge or justification from one person to another. Studying such interpersonal epistemic
relations is a legitimate part of epistemology. A very different perspective would associate
social epistemology with movements in postmodernism, social studies of science, or cultural
studies that aim to replace traditional epistemology with radically different questions, premises,
or procedures (Goldman 2019).

IN WHAT SENSE IS SOCIAL EPISTEMOLOGY SOCIAL?

Analysing further Goldman’s contributions to social epistemology, it is considered

relevant here to include views which he shared in common with Thomas Blanchard. This view
is so dear to Goldman that he recapitulated it in his subsequent works. According to Goldman
and Blanchard, there are three ways in which social epistemology can be termed social namely,
(a). Interpersonal, (b) Collective, and (c). Institutional

Interpersonal Social Epistemology

Social epistemology continues to reflect on optimal methods for individual belief

formation but specifically considers evidential inputs from other people -their opinions,
 Elias Ifeanyi E. Uzoigwe; An Appraisal of Alvin Goldman’s Social Epistemology |19

assertions, and arguments. Knowledge, though could be individual based, it is also an

interpersonal issue.

Collective Social Epistemology

Social epistemology commonly acknowledges the existence of collective doxastic-agents

such as juries, committees, and other group agents, which make judgments as a function of their
members’ judgment. It is the members who collectively judge what is to be regarded as
knowledge or not.

Institutional social epistemology

Social epistemology considers communities and societies as systems and institutions with
system-level properties that often influence the intellectual output of their members. The ways
they organize the epistemic labor-the way they open or close channels of communication for
eager or reluctant speakers, thereby encouraging or discouraging assorted modes of information
or disinformation propaganda – are enormously significant to the knowledge state of a society
(Goldman and Blanchard 2018, p. 6). It is the position of Goldman and Blanchard that,
The criteria for epistemic assessment in social epistemology need not depart dramatically
from individual epistemology. Knowledge, truth, rationality, and justification can remain
the benchmarks or standards by which to assess both social and individual methods. But
social epistemology introduces a new class of methods and epistemology may hold that
the social dimension of knowledge creates a need to revise or reformulate the customary
concepts of knowledge, rationality, truth, and/or objectivity” (2018, p. 7).
There are three conceptions of social epistemology, which Goldman analysed vis-à-vis
classical epistemology. In his own words, “I shall divide conceptions of social epistemology
(SE) into three types: (1) revisionism, (2) progressivism, and (3) expansionism. These
conceptions will be framed in terms of their relationships to traditional or mainstream
epistemology” (Goldman 2019). The three forms differ in how they relate to the basic
assumptions of classical epistemology; to wit, that epistemic agents are exclusively individuals;
that epistemology clarifies key concepts of epistemic evaluation (such as knowledge or
justification); that these concepts are of universal validity; and that concepts of epistemic
achievement are linked to an objective and mind-independent truth (Kush 2016, p. 847).
Goldman defines social epistemology as knowledge derived from one’s interaction with another
person, group or society.

Revisionist Social Epistemology

The revisionist social epistemology, which Goldman technically referred to as
‘revisionism’ has some missing links with the traditional or classical epistemology. Even
Goldman himself construed that it is only aspiring to the mainstream epistemology. He writes,
“Under revisionism, I include postmodernism, deconstructionism, social constructionism and
various social studies of science, including 'strong programme' in the sociology of science”
(Goldman 3). Inspired by the social character of the phenomena they study, these movements in
common share a strong rejection of the core tenets of mainstream epistemology. They worked
against the notions of truth, objective rationality, and epistemic agent, among other things. A
scholar like Richard Rorty (1979) who had earlier announced the demise of epistemology and
proposed a vague replacement for it, is an outstanding example of a revisionist thinker in line
with Goldman’s line of thought. Employing Rorty’s exact words, “keep the conversation going
rather than to find objective truth” (1979, p. 377). Giving support to Rorty, “truth is a social
institution” (Stephen Shapin 1994, p. 6). Truths are not in or of this world, they are not ‘out
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there’ to be discovered but are mere social fabrications or constructions (Latour and Woolgar
1986).
It is important to note that the revisionists use the language of knowledge, but they do not
conceive it to be truth-entailing or truth-tracking as Robert Nozick would call it, or factive state.
While revisionists often use the language of ‘knowledge,’ they don’t understand it to be truth-
entailing…In their lexicon knowledge is simply whatever is believed, or perhaps
‘institutionalized’ belief (Goldman 3). Still, with their deconstructionist mindset, the revisionists
reject objective rationality as a fiction of the mind. According to Barnes and Bloor, “there are
no context-free or super-cultural norms of rationality” (1982, p. 27).
On the issue of epistemic agents, proponents of revisionism like Harkinson -Nelson
construed that only groups or communities qualify as knowers. In his own words, “The
collaborators, the consensus achievers, and, in more general terms, the agents, who generate
knowledge are the communities and sub-communities, not individuals” (Phillips 2000, p. 13).
As a revisionist himself, Martin Kush (2016) called this “communitarian epistemology”.
Goldman further identified that revisionists might be called social epistemologists by courtesy
not only because they dispute the main tenets of traditional epistemology, but also there is a big
chasm, a wide gulf between their questions and those that traditionally go by the name
epistemology. Goldman maintains that scholars should tread with caution on the boundary
between revisionism and mainstream epistemology, especially in recent times. In his own
words,
“Our attempt to draw a firm boundary between revisionism and mainstream epistemology
may be a bit quick. Recent developments in epistemology and philosophy of language
may argue for greater nuance. Is it true, for example, that mainstream epistemology
firmly and definitively rejects relativism. Recently the scene has shifted a bit. There is a
‘New Age’ kind of relativism …that has gained popularity within analytic philosophy.
Perhaps New Age relativism has much in common with what revisionists like Barnes and
Bloor have claimed. If so, there may be less distance between revisionism and
mainstream epistemology than suggested above. However, we should not exaggerate the
degree to which the popularity of New Age relativism closes the gap between revisionism
and mainstream analytic epistemology. What Wright calls ‘New Age relativism’ is a view
championed by John MacFarlane (2005), Max Kolbel (2003), and Peter Lasersohn (2005)
among others… (2012, p. 251).
From the above analysis, one is not in doubt of the influence Ludwig Wittgenstein had on
Goldman. What Goldman has simply done is an epistemic gymnast. One thing is apparent from
the findings so far, it is the fact that Goldman is of the view that revisionism is not part of
traditional epistemology. To further instantiate this claim,
As far as revisionist SE is concerned, Goldman suggests the traditionalist is right: it does
not belong within real epistemology. Revisionists give up most or all of the assumptions
of classical epistemology and aim for a “successor” project. Metaphorically speaking,
revisionists tear down the building of classical epistemology and build themselves an
altogether new intellectual home” (Kush 2016, p. 874).
New Age relativism is primarily a semantical thesis, and as formulated…it does not express
everything – or the most important thing – that revisionist relativism means to assert.
Revisionist relativism would agree on a central presupposition of New age relativism, namely,
that multiple epistemic systems are possible and justification claims can be asserted relative to
any of these different systems (Boghossian 2006, p. 414). Revisionist relativism further assents
to a thesis, which Boghossian (2006) technically calls ‘epistemic nihilism’. Epistemic nihilism
holds that ‘there are no fact by virtue of which one of these systems is more correct than any of
 Elias Ifeanyi E. Uzoigwe; An Appraisal of Alvin Goldman’s Social Epistemology |21

the others’ (Boghossian 2006, pp. 73, 413). This, according to Goldman, ‘is the core thesis of
relativism that revisionists advance and mainstream epistemologists dispute (2010, p. 5).

Preservationist Social Epistemology

In order to adequately prove that preservationism is ‘real epistemology’, Goldman
employed three types of activity studied by mainstream epistemology to support his claims. In
his own words,
I shall illustrate preservationism by reference to the three types of activity studied by
traditional epistemology, each of which has a social sector. Each social sector of these
three parts of epistemology qualifies as ‘real’ epistemology. The three types of activity in
their social variants, are (1) doxastic decision – making with social evidence, (2)
gathering social evidence, and (3) speech communication with an informational purport
(assertion, debate, argumentation, etc.) (Goldman 2010, p. 6).

Doxastic Decision – Making with Social Evidence

The major concern of traditional epistemology is the epistemic evaluation of doxastic

decision – making (DDM). In general, there is nothing social about DDM. It is the contention of
Goldman that the doxastic agent makes use of social evidence. The content of evidential belief
concerns other people, because the evidential belief may have contents about what other people
have said or written. Again, the evidential beliefs may have contents concerning other people's
opinions (or other psychological states), which the doxastic agent may acquire at second or third
hand. According to Goldman, “Two lively portions of current epistemology, testimony and peer
disagreement focus on the use of social evidence in these ways. Testimony poses the problem:
when is a doxastic agent justified in accepting another person’s testimony?’’ This is arguably
the fundamental topic of social epistemology…Peer disagreement raises the question of whether
rationality requires one to revise one’s belief (or degree of belief) if one finds oneself in
disagreement with someone else who shares roughly the same evidence and has comparable
cognitive abilities. Each topic concerns epistemic justification or reasonability and thereby falls
within mainstream epistemology” (2012, p. 6).
Essentially, Goldman is of the view that both social and traditional epistemology
comfortably intersects; they are not at rivalry with each other, and thus real epistemology.
Preservationist SE is a conservative extension of classical epistemology – and thus it counts as
real epistemology. The preservationists add a new storey to the epistemological house but see
no need for laying new foundations…The preservationist social epistemology goes beyond
classical epistemology, however, in reminding us that we often give vital information or
evidence from other human agents (Kush 2016, p. 875).

Gathering Social Evidence

The gathering of social evidence, within the context of our discourse, is also called
‘investigation or inquiry’. It is here that it is made more open and clearer that the philosophy of
science is a branch of epistemic discourse. A case in point according to Goldman is that, “In a
memorable phase of the philosophy of science Karl Popper defended a falsification approach to
scientific experimentation over a verificationist approach” (1962, p. 7). Though a good number
of philosophers of science share a common opinion in the theory of testing, is the desideratum
of seeking a variety of evidence. This maxim flows from the thesis, shared by many
confirmation theorists, that more varied evidence lends greater confirmation to a hypothesis
than less varied evidence (Goldman 2012).
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It is not all epistemologists that consent to the view that gathering of evidence is a proper
subject for epistemological assessment. Notable among the scholars that oppose the idea is
Richard Feldman. He argued that in traditional epistemology as well as in contemporary
epistemic discourse, evidence gathering is not a necessary condition. Responding to Feldman,
Goldman argues, “To me, this indicates that Feldman's account of our fundamental epistemic
goals is inadequate. What is required is a high degree of belief (HDOB)…We have not said
anything yet about social evidence gathering specifically. This is a special province of SE under
my proposal. It is not essential to SE’s viability that there be wholly distinct principles of
evidence gathering (or doxastic decision-making) for the social domain” (2012, p. 10-11).

The Social Epistemology of Speech and Communication

Another type of social epistemic activity is making statements and engaging in
argumentative exchange. Such speech activities are social, of course, and the analysis of their
epistemic properties is naturally assigned to SE. This cooperative enterprise is, effectively,
social - epistemic, so one can view the norms as having both a linguistic and an epistemological
origin. Argumentation and dialectic have long been part of the epistemological mix, though
often more at the periphery than the centre (Goldman 2012, p. 11).
Goldman calls this analysandum (being justified), which for him, is a property of doxastic
states or doxastic agents, which he called personal justification. According to the envisaged
approach, it is to be analysed in terms of the posessors's disposition to interact verbally with
others in some specified fashion (2012, p. 12). The requisite verbal interaction Goldman called
interpersonal justifying something one does with interlocutors. Goldman also envisages some
kind of imbalance (asymmetries) between the speaker and the hearer, which for him, could be
one of the problems of SE of speech and communication. In fact, Goldman doubts if the
dialectical approach will succeed in the process of justification.
Argumentative legitimacy is not equivalent to validity (or inductive strength). A
prominent fact that needs explaining is that enthymemes, (which are invalid arguments as they
stand), are commonly used in everyday speech, yet nobody finds them objectionable. In
summary, many forms of SE are unquestionably instances of traditional epistemology. It would
be arbitrary and misguided of epistemologists to contend that no part or instance of SE is real
epistemology (Goldman 2010).

Expansionist Social Epistemology

In his effort to prove that social epistemology is real epistemology, Goldman further proposed
expansionism (i.e. expansionist social epistemology). By way of expanding the frontiers of
social epistemology, he includes the epistemic properties of groups (collective doxastic agents),
the influence of social ‘systems’ and their policies on epistemic outcomes.

Collective Doxastic Agents

It is the contention of Goldman that in our everyday activities we often speak of
collective entities like committees, juries, courts, scientific panels, and governments as making
judgments or taking a cognitive stance of one sort or another. Once these kinds of intentional
attitudes for collective agents are conceded, shouldn’t we reflect on the epistemic properties of
these attitudes? Going further Goldman argued, “If an individual's judgment over a set of many
propositions can be accessed for their (epistemic) rationality, isn't it appropriate to make similar
assessments of a collective agent's judgments? And if epistemologists take an interest in cases
that seriously challenge what is rational for the individual, shouldn't epistemologists - social
epistemologists take an interest in cases that seriously challenge what is rational for a collective
agent? (2012, p. 15).
 Elias Ifeanyi E. Uzoigwe; An Appraisal of Alvin Goldman’s Social Epistemology |23

In 1993 the issue of collective judgemental rationality was first identified by Kornhauser
and Sager. However, the problem of consistency of judgment at the individual level and also at
the collective level should not be ruled out. It has been earlier argued that collective agents do
not consistently engage in doxastic decision-making. Responding to this Goldman articulates, “I
dispute the assumption that collective agents do not engage in doxastic decision-making
(DDM). Although collective agents are (presumably) not distinct centres of consciousness, this
does not mean that they don’t engage in DDM (2012, p. 16).
The above amounts to what Goldman called a paradox of social rationality. Supporting
his claim that social epistemology is real epistemology and referring back to preservasionism as
a case in point, he then goes much further to ask, “Can there be systematic rational group agents
whose judgements are suitably tied to those of their members? If not, what does this imply by
epistemic rationality at the collective level? This question is sufficiently novel relative to the
epistemological tradition that it cannot be folded into preservationist SE. On the other hand, it is
sufficiently continuous with traditional epistemology that it deserves a home somewhere in
epistemology. A comfortable home can be found in what I call the expansionist district of SE
(2012, p. 17).

Epistemic Evaluation of Social Systems

It is no longer news, especially in this contemporary era that, many facets of social life
feature practices and institutions ostensibly dedicated to epistemic ends, but where one is
entitled to wonder whether prevailing practices and institutions are optimal. For Goldman,
subjecting such practices and institutions to epistemic evaluation is in order. This position of
Goldman, for me, goes further to support the claim that philosophy is the mother/queen of arts
and sciences. The systems that have some epistemic dimension that can be termed social
include: legal adjudication systems, which though are not being a collective doxastic agent in
their own right, such systems are typically guided by a truth-seeking mission. Advancing his
argument Goldman articulates, “In the case of the American system, the Supreme Court stated
this clearly in Tehan v U.S (1966), ‘The basic purpose of a trial is the determination of truth’
(2012, p. 18).

Epistemic Rationale for Freedom of Speech

For Goldman, “Freedom of speech” is the best social arrangement for generating good
‘verististic’ (true belief) consequences. This goes a long way to show that there are
epistemological issues inherent event in the socio-cultural cum political milieu.
The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human
race; posterity as well as the existing generations; those who dissent from the opinion,
still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the
opportunity of exchanging error for truth; if wrong they lose, what is almost as great a
benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision
with error (Mills 19962, pp. 142-143).

Epistemic Approach to Democracy

As Goldman’s last example of expansionist SE, a driving force behind an important
strand of work on epistemic approach is the Condorcet Jury Theorem, discovered in the
eighteenth century. The usual and outstanding knock against this system (CJT) is that it reveals
that voting per se is not such a significant aspect of democratic procedure. If a Theorist
managed to formulate such a set of requirements and showed that satisfying these requirements
has a reliabilistically beneficial properties for groups, this would show, by means of
epistemology-indeed, social epistemology-that certain features of a system promote an
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important epistemic desideratum, that is, reliability, or increased reliability. Some features of
public deliberation would contribute to a group’s reliability, thereby providing a basis for a
reliabilist rationale for democracy. What Goldman is trying to establish here is that there is
epistemic content even in a democratic process of a given society.

CONCLUSION

From our analysis, especially as it is encapsulated in his work, Knowledge in a Social

World, Goldman argues that social epistemology should be seen as complementing rather than
replacing traditional epistemology. On this view social epistemology retains traditional
epistemology’s normative focus on how epistemic practices and systems in terms of their ability
to produce “verististc value” (the kind of value we place on having true beliefs). It is quite
apparent that Goldman expressed a variety of views in each of his publications from where his
social-epistemic views are extrapolated. Just like Wittgenstein, Goldman equally revisited his
earlier positions in order to make his brand of thought fit into the 21st century epistemic
discourse. This must have been one of the reasons why he consistently argued in his work, “Is
Social Epistemology Real Epistemology”, that preservationist social epistemology is indeed real
epistemology because it shares some features with traditional epistemology.
As it were, no one has done more for establishing social epistemology as a vibrant aspect
of epistemology than Goldman. However, that does not preclude the fact that in some areas his
vision of the field is limited. A case in point is his little interest in socio-historical and in fact
what this work calls historical social epistemology. He further subsumes diagnostic approaches
under revisionism, where this is construed as postmodernist deconstructionism. No doubt, some
deconstructionist theories reject the pillars of mainstream epistemology, but that does not
suffice to disqualify them as “real epistemology”. There is a need to give historical social
epistemology (HSE) and diagnostic contributions a prominent place in articulating social
epistemology. It is from the thesis and antithesis that Hegel arrived at his synthesis. It is from
rationalist and empiricist impasse that Kant articulated his famous synthetic a priori. It is from
the Old Testament that the New Testament finds its full meaning. So, there is a need for
Goldman in articulating his social epistemic ideas to include historical social epistemology.

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