# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-alston
# Generated: 2026-08-13T11:26:04.574Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-alston"
name: "William Alston"
slug: "william-alston"
description: "William Payne Alston was an American philosopher. He is widely considered to be one of the most important epistemologists and philosophers of religion of the twentieth century, and is also known for his work in metaphysics and the philosophy of language. His views on foundationalism, internalism and externalism, speech acts, and the epistemic value of mystical experience, among many other topics, have been very influential. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago and taught at the University of Michigan, Rutgers University, University of Illinois, and Syracuse University."
tagline: "American Christian philosopher (1921–2009)"
image: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/42/William_Payne_Alston_%281921%E2%80%932009%29.png"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Academics"
  slug: "academics"
profileType:
  name: "Academic"
  slug: "academic"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1921-11-29"
deathDate: "2009-09-13"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           48.64
  momentum:             0.4914285714285714
  historical:           16.233048
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alston"
    title: "William Alston"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A3%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86"
    title: "وليام ألستون"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%8A%D9%86"
    title: "وليام الستين"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilyam_Alston"
    title: "Vilyam Alston"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%89%E0%A6%87%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AE_%E0%A6%85%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%9F%E0%A6%A8"
    title: "উইলিয়াম অ্যালস্টন"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alston"
    title: "William Alston"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alston"
    title: "William Alston"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alston"
    title: "William Alston"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alston"
    title: "William Alston"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alston"
    title: "William Alston"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A2%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86"
    title: "ویلیام آلستون"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alston"
    title: "William Alston"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alston"
    title: "William Alston"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ha.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alston"
    title: "William Alston"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%88%D6%82%D5%AB%D5%AC%D5%B5%D5%A1%D5%B4_%D4%B1%D5%AC%D5%BD%D5%A9%D5%B8%D5%B6"
    title: "Ուիլյամ Ալսթոն"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alston"
    title: "William Alston"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alston"
    title: "William Alston"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%9C%8C%EB%A6%AC%EC%97%84_%EC%98%AC%EC%8A%A4%ED%84%B4"
    title: "윌리엄 올스턴"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alston"
    title: "William Alston"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alston"
    title: "William Alston"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q125879"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump