To know epistemology’s history is to know better what contemporary epistemology could be and perhaps should be – and what it need not be and perhaps ought not to be.

Knowledge in Modern Philosophy presents the history of one of Western philosophy’s greatest challenges: understanding the nature of knowledge. It follows conceptions of knowledge that have been proposed, defended, replaced, and proposed anew by major modern philosophers.

Covering questions of science and religion in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, this volume focuses on writing by Descartes, Hobbes, Kant, Leibniz, and others. Offering fresh perspectives on the many ways in which modern philosophers conceived of knowledge, Knowledge in Modern Philosophy leads to a deeper appreciation of the origins of contemporary philosophy.

Stephen Gaukroger was Emeritus Professor of History of Philosophy and History of Science at the University of Sydney, Australia.