Justified True Belief theory

Question 1

Why is truth a necessary condition of the JTB?

Answer 1

Zagzebski said knowledge was ‘cognitive contact with reality’
Reality is compromised of what is true

Question 2

Why is belief a necessary condition of the JTB?

Answer 2

Taking a proposition to be true is to believe it

Question 3

correspondence theory of truth

Answer 3

this theory says that truth consists in correspondence between a claim and a relevant fact. With the claim the world is flat, it does not correspond to the fact so is untrue. Raquel the cave woman cannot know the world id flat as her JB is not true

Question 4

coherence theory of truth

Answer 4

belief is true if it is held by a society to be true- if it is one of societies web of beliefs- according to coherence theory Raquel had JTB and did know the world was flat as within her society the claim would have been one of their web of beliefs

Question 5

Can you have knowledge without justification example

Answer 5

Jon the calendar man- Jon has a rare gift- pick any date in the future and he can tell you which day this date will fall upon- he doesn’t know how he does this but he is accurate- does he have knowledge?

Question 6

What do Gettier’s cases describe?

Answer 6

2 scenarios where an individual has a justified true belief that is not knowledge- JTB is only true as a result of luck

Question 7

Describe Gettier case 1

Answer 7

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
And, by coincidence, Smith also has 10 coins in his pocket

Question 8

Why wouldn’t we consider Smith as having knowledge?

Answer 8

it is just luck leading to him being correct

Question 9

How is Smith’s belief Justified and True?- gettier case 1

Answer 9

Smith’s belief “the man who will get the job has 10 coins in his pocket” is:

Justified: he hears the interviewer say Jones will get the job and he sees that Jones has 10 coins in his pocket
True: the man who gets the job (Smith) does indeed have 10 coins in his pocket

Question 10

Describe Gettier’s case 2

Answer 10

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

Question 11

How is Smith’s belief Justified and True?- Gettier case 2

Answer 11

True: “Either Jones owns a Ford or Brown is in Barcelona” turns out to be true. But Smith thought it was true because of the first condition (Jones owns a Ford) whereas it turns out it is true because of the second condition (Brown is in Barcelona)
Justified: The original belief “Jones owns a Ford” is justified, second belief “Either Jones owns a Ford or Brown is in Barcelona” is also justified.