On Saying that Someone Knows: Themes from Craig 1 by Klemens Kappel Division of Philosophy Department of Media, Cognition and Communication University of Copenhagen kappel@hum.ku.dk Intro In his book Knowledge and the State of Nature, Edward Craig proposes a new methodological approach to one of the crucial questions in epistemology, the question what knowledge is, or more precisely the question regarding the nature and the concept of knowledge. 2 We should, urges Craig, start by asking what we have the concept of knowledge for, what the point or purpose of this concept is. Craig thinks that we can answer this question, and that the answer will illuminate the concept of knowledge. The reason we have the concept of knowledge, according to Craig, is that we use it ‘to flag approved sources of information’. 3 In part, Craig defends his view about the point of the concept of knowledge by providing a detailed genealogical account of how the concept of knowledge evolved out of a more primitive concept of the good informant, which in turn arose in a state of nature. Moreover, Craig endeavours to show how this throws light on a range of otherwise puzzling features of knowledge and our practice of epistemic appraisals, including perennial issues debated in epistemology, such as scepticism, the Gettier-problem, and the controversy over externalism and internalism. Reading Craig’s book, it strikes one as rich and suggestive. Indeed, it seems very compelling that understanding what we have the concept of knowledge for, and how this concept developed, will help us understand features of the concept of knowledge. And it certainly does seem plausible that this in turn will cast light on the nature of a range of disputes that relate to the question of what knowledge is. And indeed Craig has many interesting things to say about the point of the concept of knowledge, the development of this concept, and how this explains certain features of our practice of epistemic appraisals, and certain debates in epistemology. 1 This paper has been long in the making. Thanks to Erik Olsson, Jesper Kallestrup and Mikkel Gerken for very helpful and stimulating discussions along the way. The material was presented at The Place of Epistemic Agents conference, Madrid, 2-3 October, 2008. I would like to thank the organizers for providing me with the opportunity to present the material at that occasion, and the audience for helpful suggestions. 2 Edward Craig, Knowledge and the State of Nature: An Essay in Conceptual Synthesis, New York: Clarendon Press (Oxford University Press, 1999). 3 Ibid., 11.