Goldberg's principal ambition, in Relying on Others (RO), is to articulate and defend a version of process reliabilism that's less 'individualistic in orientation' than he perceives traditional versions of that theory to be: a version on which the reliability (or not) of processes in others' minds can affect whether a belief constitutes knowledge-and, more contentiously, whether it's justified. Much of the book is taken up by a discussion of the epistemology of testimony; that's as it should be, since Goldberg's main arguments turn on certain novel and controversial claims about the nature of testimonial belief-formation and testimonial justification.A subsidiary ambition, pursued towards the end of the book, is to draw a 'more explicit connection' between reliabilist and social epistemology, and to (thereby) strengthen the case for the "interest and legitimacy of 'the project of social epistemology: the project of characterizing the epistemic significance of our social arrangements and institutions" (RO, 6). On this, let me just note that readers whose skepticism about that project concerns its putative philosophical interest, are unlikely to be moved by the considerations Goldberg gives. (Readers with certain other worries about the project might find his take on it helpful.
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