Epistemology - What Is Knowledge? Flashcards
1
Q
Outline Plato’s Justified True Belief (JTB)
A
- P is true
- You believe that p
- And your belief that p is justified
2
Q
Outline the ‘no false lemmas’ condition (JTB + N)
A
- P is true
- You believe that p
- Your belief that p is justified
- You did not infer p from a false lemma
3
Q
Outline the infalliblism solution (strengthens justification)
A
- No-one can know what is false
- Therefore if I know p, then I can’t be mistaken about p
- Therefore, for justification to secure knowledge, justification must guarantee truth
- Therefore, if it is possible that i am mistaken, then i can’t be justified in believing p
- Therefore infalliblism is true
4
Q
Outline reliablism (RTB)
A
- P is true
- You believe that p
- And your belief that p is caused by a reliable cognitive process
Reliable cognitive processes are ones that produce a high percentage of true beliefs, e.g. senses + reliable sources (not gossip)
5
Q
Outline Zagzebski’s Virtue Epistemology (VTB)
A
- P is true
- You believe that p
- Your belief is a result of you exercising your intellectual virtue
6
Q
Why does JTB fail?
A
- The conditions are not necessary
- The conditions are not jointly sufficient; knowledge and truth can come apart as shown by Gettier cases
7
Q
What are the strengths of reliablism?
A
- Allows children and animals to have knowledge as they also utilise ‘reliable cognitive processes’
- Recognises knowledge as a natural good like strength or beauty; not praiseworthy but it is desirable like good eyesight
8
Q
Why does reliablism fail?
A
- Cannot overcome Fake Barn County
- Cannot overcome Zagzebski’s Virus X
- Zagzebski: any definitions of knowledge that adds conditions to true belief will face Gettier cases
9
Q
Outline complex reliablism
A
- p is true
- you believe that p
- you inferred p from a reliable cognitive process (good eyesight, good memory)
- you recognise relevant possibilities within the situation
