https://fp.waik.stronazen.pl:443//4443-13-2-fall-2008-11.html Gradually emerging from the so-called “linguistic turn,” philosophy in the second half of the twentieth century witnessed what we might follow P. M. S. Hacker in describing as a “naturalistic turn.” This change of direction, an abandonment of traditional philosophical methods in favour of a scientific approach, or critics would say a scientistic approach, has met with widespread approval. In the first part of the paper I look to establish the centrality of the normative to the discipline of epistemology. I then turn to examine Quine's attempt to reduce normative discourse to instrumental rationality, and the more fully developed accounts provided by Stich, Kornblith and Papineau. I argue that these accounts fail because they insist on a constitutive connection between desires and the ends of epistemic activity. I conclude with the suggestion that a more plausible position severs this connection, in favour of an objective, externalist account of ends and reasons. Issues 13/2 - Fall 2008 Articles fr Fri, 18 Dec 2020 09:52:52 +0100 Fri, 18 Dec 2020 09:52:52 +0100 https://fp.waik.stronazen.pl:443//4443-13-2-fall-2008-11.html 0