Abstract

In Objectivity and Insight Mark Sacks analyzes the approaches of modern epistemology to the nature and scope of objectivity, and proposes his own conception of objectivity. In question is our ability to acquire objective knowledge, without it being indexed to firstperson experience or relative to contingent factors. Different epistemologies have addressed this issue differently, and Sacks outlines their positive and negative aspects, dividing the field into two camps, one leading to what he calls subject-driven skepticism, arising from the Cartesian gap, and the other leading to world-driven skepticism, potentially leading to relativism. In part 3, Sacks proposes a conception of objectivity he contends is impervious to both types of skepticism. Sacks’s revised notion of objectivity, are exciting and hold promise. The breadth and depth of his analysis of modern epistemology together with the thoroughness of his argumentation for his analysis seem to insure his success.