b. 1946
Paul L. Harris is a developmental psychologist and philosopher at Harvard University whose work examines how children acquire knowledge through testimony and trust. He has been highly influential in bridging developmental psychology and social epistemology, particularly on the question of how knowledge propagates through chains of testimony. His research challenges purely individualist accounts of justification by demonstrating the epistemic significance of deference to others.
Authored 'Trusting What You're Told: How Children Learn from Others' (2012), a landmark study on testimonial learning
Demonstrated empirically that children rely on chains of testimony as a primary source of knowledge from early childhood
Advanced philosophical debate on whether testimonial justification can be transmitted through intermediaries
Contributed to social epistemology by integrating developmental evidence into theories of epistemic trust
Extended research on imagination and pretend play into questions of conceptual development and belief formation