definitions of knowledge

Question 1

who said knowledge is justified true belief?

Answer 1

plato

Question 2

who challenged JTB?

Answer 2

Edmund Gettier in 1963

Question 3

what did Gettier do to challenge JTB?

Answer 3

Gettier describes two secnarios that are known as Gettier cases, where an individual has a justified true belief but that is not knowledge

Question 4

what are the three kinds of knowledge?

Answer 4

ability, acquaintance and propositional knowledge

Question 5

what is the definition of ability knowledge?

Answer 5

knowledge how, e.g, I know how to ride a bike

Question 6

what is the definition of acquaintance knowledge?

Answer 6

knowledge of, e.g, I know Fred well

Question 7

what is the definition of propositional knowledge?

Answer 7

knoweldge that, e.g, I know that London is the capital of England

Question 8

what is the tripartite definition of knowledge?

Answer 8

justified true belief

Question 9

are the conditions necessary?

Answer 9

we can argue that JTB are all necessary for knowledge.
- you can’t know something if it isn’t true. If someone said, “I know that the moon is made of green cheese” you wouldn’t consider that knowledge because it isn’t true.
- you can’t know something you don’t believe. It just wouldn’t make sense, for example, to say “I know today is Monday but I don’t believe today is Monday.”
- suppose someone asks you if you know how many moons Pluto has. you have no interest in astronomy but just have a strong feeling about the number 5 because it’s your lucky number or whatever. you’d be right – Pluto does indeed have 5 moons – but it seems a bit of a stretch to say you knew Pluto has 5 moons. your true belief “Pluto has 5 moons” is not properly justified and so would not count as knowledge.

so, ‘justified’, ‘true’, and ‘belief’ may each be necessary for knowledge

Question 10

are the conditions of JTB sufficient?

Answer 10

if ‘justified true belief’ is also a sufficient definition of knowledge, then everything that is a justified true belief will be knowledge, Gettier cases challenges this

Question 11

describe the reason why Gettier cases are an issue to JTB?

Answer 11

Gettier’s paper describes two scenarios where an individual has a justified true belief that is not knowledge. both scenarios describe a belief that fails to count as knowledge because the justified belief is only true as a result of luck.

Question 12

describe Gettier case 1?

Answer 12

-Smith and Jones are interviewing for the same job
-Smith hears the interviewer say “I’m going to give Jones the job”
-Smith also sees Jones count 10 coins from his pocket
-Smith thus forms the belief that “the man who will get the job has 10 coins in his pocket”
-But Smith gets the job, not Jones
-Then Smith looks in his pocket and, by coincidence, he also has 10 coins in his pocket

Smiths belief is justified and true, however it was a lucky JTB

Question 13

what does Gettier’s second case rely on?

Answer 13

-the logical principle of disjunction
-disjunction introduction says that if you have a true statement and add “or some other statement” then the full statement is also true.

Question 14

describe Grttier’s second case?

Answer 14

-Smith has a justified belief that “Jones owns a Ford”
-So, using the principle of disjunctive introduction above, Smith can form the further justified belief that “Either Jones owns a Ford or Brown is in Barcelona”
-Smith thinks his belief that “Either Jones owns a Ford or Brown is in Barcelona” is true because the first condition is true (i.e. that Jones owns a Ford)
-But it turns out that Jones does not own a Ford
-However, by sheer coincidence, Brown is in Barcelona

Smiths belief is true and justified, however it is wrong to say that Smith’s belief count as knowledge because it was just lucky.

Question 15

what does the JTB + no false lemmas condition aim to do?

Answer 15

aims to strengthen the justification condition of the tripartite definition.

Question 16

what does the JTB + no false lemmas say knowledge is?

Answer 16

It says that James has knowledge of P if:

P is true
James believes that P
James’s belief is justified
James did not infer that P from anything false

Question 17

how does JTB + no false lemmas avoid the Gettier problems?

Answer 17

avoids the problems of Gettier cases because Smith’s belief “the man who will get the job has 10 coins in his pocket” is inferred from the false lemma “Jones will get the job”.

Question 18

hows does no false lemmas appear to be more accurate than tripartite view?

Answer 18

it avoids saying Gettier cases count as knowledge

Question 19

what is a problem with JTB + no false lemmas?

Answer 19

fake barn county situation:
In ‘fake barn county’, the locals create fake barns that look identical to real barns
Henry is driving through fake barn county, but he doesn’t know the locals do this
Henry often thinks “there’s a barn” when he looks at the fake barns
These beliefs are not knowledge, because they are not true – the barns are fake
However, on one occasion Henry looks at the one real barn and thinks “there’s a barn”
This time the belief is true
It’s also justified by his visual perception of the barn
And it’s not inferred from anything false.
According to the no false lemmas definition, Henry’s belief is knowledge.

Question 20

what does reliabilism say knowledge is?

Answer 20

Reliabilism says James knows that P if:
-P is true
-James believes that P
-James’s belief that P is caused by a reliable method
-A reliable method is one that produces a high percentage of true beliefs.

Question 21

what is an advantage of reliabilism?

Answer 21

An advantage of reliabilism is that it allows for young children and animals to have knowledge. However, pretty much all the other definitions of knowledge considered here imply that animals and young children can not have knowledge. For example, a seagull or a baby can’t justify its beliefs. However, both young children and animals are capable of forming beliefs via reliable processes, e.g. their eyesight, and so according to reliabilism are capable of possessing knowledge.

Question 22

what is an issue with reliability?

Answer 22

fake barn county:
Henry’s true belief that “there’s a barn” is caused by a reliable cognitive process – his visual perception. Reliabilism would thus (incorrectly) say that Henry knows “there’s a barn” even though his belief is only true as a result of luck.

Question 23

define zagzebski’s analysis of knowledge?

Answer 23

Zagzebski’s analysis of knowledge is that James knows that P if:

James believes that P
James’s belief that P arises from an act of intellectual virtue

Question 24

what is an act of intellectul virtue?

Answer 24

An act of moral virtue is one where the actor both intends to do good and achieves that goal. Intellectual virtue is similar: You must both have the correct motivation (e.g. you want to find the truth) and succeed as a result of that virtue (i.e. your belief turns out to be true because you acted virtuously).

Question 25

what is the formula that Zagzebski provides?

Answer 25

-She provides a formula for constructing such Gettier cases to defeat these definitions:
-Start with a situation where there is a belief that fits the definition (‘true belief + some third condition’) but is false due to bad luck
–E.g. Henry’s belief “there’s a barn” when he is looking at the fake barns
-Then change the situation to one where the belief fits that definition (‘true belief + some third condition’) but is true due to good luck
E.g. Henry’s belief “there’s a barn” when he is looking at the one real barn
-In the second case, the belief will still fit the definition (‘true belief + some third condition’) because it’s basically the same as the first case
-But the second case won’t be knowledge, because it’s only true due to luck

Question 26

what is Sosa’s definition of knowledge?

Answer 26

-P is true
-James believes that P
-James’s true belief that P is a result of James exercising his intellectual virtues

Question 27

hows does Sosa illustrate the meaning of his last condition?

Answer 27

with archery analogy: he says that a virtuous shot in archery has the following three properties:
-Accurate, i.e. it hits the target
-Adroit, i.e. the archer is skilful and shoots the arrow well
-Apt, i.e. the arrow hit the target because it was shot well

Question 28

according to Sosa what does something have to be to qualify as knowledge?

Answer 28

According to Sosa, for something to qualify as knowledge the belief must be true as a direct consequence of the believer exercising their intellectual virtues – it must be apt.

Question 29

what does aptness provide in Sosa’s definition of knowledge?

Answer 29

aptness provides a link between truth and the third condition that rules out Gettier-style situations where the belief is only true as a result of luck.

Question 30

what is a problem of virtue epistemology?

Answer 30

a potential criticism of virtue epistemology is that it appears to rule out the possibility of young children or babies possessing knowledge, despite the fact that they arguably can know many things.

Question 31

what does infallabilism say knowledge has to be?

Answer 31

infallibilism argues that for a belief to count as knowledge, it must be true and justified in such a way as to make it certain.

Question 32

how does infallabilism beat Gettier cases?

Answer 32

even though Smith has good reasons for his beliefs in the Gettier case, they’re not good enough to provide certainty.
-certainty, to philosophers like Descartes, means the impossibility of doubt.

Question 33

what is a problem of infallabilism?

Answer 33

too strict: beats Gettier cases but says pretty much everything fails to qualify as knowledge