In this article I argue that often propositional knowledge is acquired and retained by extensive reliance on physical and social scaffolds that create an environment or niche conducive to knowledge. It is incumbent on epistemologists to subject these aids to epistemic assessments. I show that several of the activities involved in the creation of niches within which inquiry can thrive are carried out by whole cultures. New generations benefit from inheriting these niches whilst being able to improve upon them to the advantage of their descendants. Finally, I highlight that the growth of human epistemic achievements is often due to increased outsourcing of cognitive effort and epistemic powers onto impersonal physical and social structures so that human beings can succeed more by contributing less to the solution of problems.

中文翻译：

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脚手架知识

在这篇文章中，我认为，命题知识通常是通过广泛依赖创造有利于知识的环境或利基的物理和社会支架来获得和保留的。认识论者有责任对这些辅助工具进行认知评估。我展示了一些与创建可以促进探究的利基有关的活动是由整个文化进行的。新一代受益于继承这些利基，同时能够改进它们以使其后代受益。最后，我强调人类认知成就的增长往往是由于认知努力和认知能力越来越多地外包给非个人的物理和社会结构，这样人类就可以通过减少对问题解决的贡献来取得更大的成功。