Ryle, Stanley, Bach: Overintellectualizing Intellectualism
Kent Bach has published a review of Jason Stanley's Know How . It's a generally positive review, though with a strongly critical bent. Bach is not sold on Stanley's variety of intellectualism, but he does not want to object prematurely. He finds a lot worth taking seriously, but he also finds a lot of problems that need to be resolved. In pointing out one of these 'loose ends', as he charitably calls them, Bach suggests a small amount of sympathy for Ryle. The concern relates to Stanley's claim that, while learning how to do something entails learning a fact, learning how to do something better does not entail learning a new fact. Bach's fear is that Stanley might be inviting "a Ryle-style regress problem." Though I haven't read this part of Stanley's book yet (still don't have a copy), Bach's concern is plausibly justified, though not clearly expressed. We might raise a general question against Stanley: If knowing how...