In Defense of Pure Reason

A Rationalist Account of A Priori Justification

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by Laurence BonJour

Cambridge University Press

Due/Published November 1997, 350 pages, paper

ISBN 0521597455

This book is concerned with the alleged capacity of the human mind to arrive at beliefs and knowledge about the world on the basis of pure reason without any dependence on sensory experience. Most recent philosophers reject the view and argue that all substantive knowledge must be sensory in origin. BonJour reopens the debate by presenting the most comprehensive exposition and defense of the rationalist view that a priori insight is a genuine basis for knowledge.

Contents: Chapter 1; Introduction: The Problem of A priori Justification; Chapter 2; In Search of Moderate Empiricism; Chapter 3; Quine and Radical Empiricism; Chapter 4; A Moderate Rationalism; Chapter 5; Epistemological Objections to Rationalism; Chapter 6; Metaphysical Objections to Rationalism; Chapter 7; The Justification of Induction; Appendix: Non-Euclidean Geometry and Relativity