b. 1954
Hilary Kornblith is an American philosopher best known for his work in epistemology, particularly his defense of naturalized epistemology and his view that knowledge is a natural kind studied by cognitive ethology. He argues that epistemology should be continuous with empirical science rather than a purely a priori discipline.
Developed an influential account of knowledge as a natural kind in 'Knowledge and Its Place in Nature' (2002)
Advanced naturalized epistemology as a successor to traditional a priori epistemology
Critiqued reliance on intuitions as evidence in philosophical methodology
Contributed to debates on the Gettier problem and the analysis of knowledge
Served as Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst