b. 1939
C.A.J. Coady (Cecil Anthony John Coady) is an Australian analytic philosopher and Emeritus Professor at the University of Melbourne. He is best known for his landmark work on the epistemology of testimony, arguing that testimony constitutes a basic, irreducible source of justification rather than being reducible to perception, memory, or induction. He has also contributed substantially to political philosophy, particularly on the ethics of violence and political corruption.
Authored 'Testimony: A Philosophical Study' (1992), the foundational modern treatment of testimonial knowledge
Defended testimony as a basic epistemic source, influencing the reductionism vs. anti-reductionism debate
Argued that chains of testimony can transmit justification without requiring independent verification at each link
Contributed to just war theory and the ethics of political violence
Helped establish testimony as a central topic in contemporary epistemology