Offers a new, original way of framing questions about knowledge. Knowledge and Civilization advances 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

Foreword -- Introduction -- Knowledge -- What Was Epistemology? -- The Art of Knowledge -- Some Philosophers -- Dionysian Epistemology: Nietzsche's Idea of Knowledge -- Stuck in the Order of Discourse: Foucault's Idea of Knowledge -- Turning Back the Linguistic Turn: Rorty's Idea of Knowledge -- Knowledge, Evolution, Civilization -- Evolving Knowledge -- Civilizing Knowledge -- The Ultimate Context