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March 27, 2007
Professor Wins Best Young Epistemologist Award
Allan Hazlett, assistant professor of philosophy, has won the 2007 Young Epistemologist award for his paper “The Myth of Factive Verbs.”
Written by Christy Hammett
Hazlett is challenging the status quo with the idea that one can know something that is a false statement.
Hazlett will present the paper at the Rutgers Epistemology Conference. The conference will award the fifth biannual prize for the best essay submitted to the Conference from a person with a doctoral degree obtained by the time of submission but not earlier than 10 years prior to the date of the conference.
The essay will be published along with the invited papers in the publication Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. Hazlett will also receive an award of $1,000.
Epistemology is the theory of knowledge, and most epistemologists believe that if you know something then it must be a true statement. Hazlett's paper challenges this theory, with the idea that one can know something that is a false statement. When speaking of factive verbs, Hazlett is referring to such words as knows, learns, remembers and realizes.
Hazlett said he is excited to defend his paper to the conference.
“There will be many people at the conference that don’t support my ideas of knowledge and factive verbs,” Hazlett said. “I am glad I have the opportunity to present my theories to the conference.”
Hazlett's fascination with epistemology began when he was a graduate student at Brown University. Texas Tech professor Matt Weiner also sparked an interest for him after the two of them had several discussions on epistemology.
Featured Expert
Allan Hazlett, assistant professor of philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences, allan.hazlett@ttu.edu or (806) 742-0373.
Did you know?
The Texas Tech Philosophy Department is ranked among the top Philosophy MA programs in the nation.
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