Abstract

Philosophical investigations in general, and epistemological investigations in particular, typically begin with conceptual analysis. It is argued that an analysis of our concept of knowledge is no more relevant to epistemology than an analysis of our concept of gold would be relevant to the proper conduct of chemistry, for knowledge, like gold, is a natural kind. The role of intuition in philosophical theory construction is discussed, and a naturalistic account of the practice of appealing to intuitions is presented and defended.