Knowledge and Civilization

Knowledge and Civilizationadvances detailed criticism of philosophy's usual approach to knowledge and describes a redirection, away from textbook problems of epistemology, toward an ecological philosophy of technology and civilization. Rejecting theories that confine knowledge to language or discourse, Allen situates knowledge in the greater field of artifacts, technical performance, and human evolution. His wide ranging considerations draw on ideas from evolutionary biology, archaeology, anthropology, and the history of cities, art, and technology.

Barry Allen received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Princeton University in 1986. He has taught at the University of Chicago and Hebrew University, and is currently Professor of Philosophy at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He is the author of Truth in Philosophy and is an associate editor at the interdisciplinary journal Common Knowledge .