Knowledge Epistemology Flashcards
The 3 types of knowledge
Acquaintance, Ability and Propositional
Acquaintance knowledge
“Knowing-of”, recognition, familiarity e.g. I know California
Ability knowledge
“Knowing-how”, how to perform a skill e.g. I know how to speak
Propositional knowledge
“Knowing-that”, knowledge of the truth or falsehood of propositions e.g. I know my name
Necessary condition
Something which has to be true for something else to follow, but may not be enough on its own e.g. being a man is a necessary condition of being a bachelor
Sufficient condition
Once achieved, it is enough for something else to follow e.g. being an unmarried man is a sufficient condition of being a bachelor
Jointly sufficiency and individual necessity
A collection of things can individually be necessary but not enough for something to follow, and together can be sufficient for that thing to follow
Tautology
Where you can swap a word with its definition in the same sentence and maintain the exact same meaning
Real essence
Something that has a real essence has a real definition, e.g. water, which will always be water molecularly
Nominal essence
Something with nominal essence has a subjective definition, e.g. weeds, since what is called a weed is dependent on situational and cultural opinions
Zagzebski on knowledge
It has a nominal essence, and probably doesn’t have a real definition. We cannot be sure though, so we should continue to look for one until we are forced to stop.
Zagzebski thinks a good definition should avoid being…
Circular, Obscure, Negative, Ad Hoc
Circular definition
A definition that contains the term being defined
Obscure definition
A definition that is more complicated or confusing than the term being defined
Negative definition
Defining a term by what it isn’t
Ad Hoc definition
A definition tailored to counter specific problems rather than a general one
Plato’s Tripartite Definition of Knowledge
That the conditions of Justified True Belief are individually necessary and jointly sufficient for knowledge
K = JTB
Knowledge = Justified True Belief
How to show a definition is bad
Give one counterexample e.g. point to something that is a bachelor but isn’t an unmarried man or something that is an unmarried man but isn’t a bachelor
How to disprove Plato’s Definition of Knowledge
Either find that one or more of the conditions are not necessary for knowledge or find that the conditions together are not sufficient for knowledge
Correspondence theory of truth
A belief is only true if what it claims to be the case is actually the case
Coherence theory of truth
Truth stems from the web of beliefs held by a society to be true.
What did Plato think about knowledge and belief
Knowledge is infallible and belief is fallible, so they must be two separate things. Knowledge entails going beyond mere belief.
