The definition of Knowledge

?

Types of Knowledge

Practical Knowledge - know-how

Knowedge by aquaintance - Know -of 

Propositional knowledge - know that

1 of 17

JTB

Justified

True - external

Belief

2 of 17

The belief Condition

Belief - Fallible

Knowledge - infallible

Incompatible?

We seperate the two when speaking - for emphasis

Knowledge is more about actions than beliefs

  • e.g guessing something right on a test without belief = knowledge?
  • choice implies belief

Knowledge without assenst

  • e.g driving example
  • know how - irrelevant - can be turned to propositional knowledge - nonsensical without belief.
3 of 17

The truth condition

Kinds essential - external 

e.g flat Earth 'knew' = 'was convinced' even with good evidence and conviction still not corresponding with the world

4 of 17

Justification

Seperates from lucky guesses

What about dates guy?

well that's still kinda just guesses really. Just cos he can repeat it doesn't give it more credibility.

What is good justification as well?

5 of 17

Gettier Example

S + J apply for a job

S told by boss J will get it

J has 10 coins in his pocket (s counted)

The man with 10 coins in  his pocket will get the job

S gets the job and happens to have 10 coins

JTB but not 'knowledge' because of the luck element

  • not good justification - what is?
    • leads to infallibilism
6 of 17

Fake Barn

Barney is driving through Fake Barn County

Isn't paying attention but looks up and sees the only real barn

concludes there is a barn

does he know?

Intuition suggests no because of the element of chance

7 of 17

JTB + FEELING OF CERTAINTY

jtb + feeling of certainty = knowledge

  • subjective
  • doesn't prevent Gettier - S is certain
  • doubt does not effect knowledge
8 of 17

JT(B) + INFALLIBLE

jt(b) + infallibilism = knowledge

'the guarantee condition'

Only undoubtable things are knowledge e.g Cogito and Tautologies and internal things

no gettier

'clear and distinct ideas' - descartes

  • very limitting
  • fails in being a theory of knowledge that doesn't just collapse into certainty
  • solipsism
  • b = infallibility
  • k= belief
9 of 17

JTB + NO RELEVANT ALTERNATIVES

Weaker version of infallibilism

strong justification to rule out other alternatives

quite open as there is always something - blurry

still gettier

knowledge is essentially unreachable

10 of 17

K = JTB+ N

LEMMA - a belief or assumption

extra external element

prevents standard Gettier - S has false lemmas

fails against the clock

11 of 17

No essential false assumptions

Like lemmas - bit infallibilism-esque

kills clock because you are assuming it is working which is not necessarily the case

Lycan - accepts barns

assumption - tacit unconscious

lemma - explicit part

12 of 17

RTB

A reliable process is essential to generating true beliefs that can be called knowledge

reliable process replaces justification - criticised as not the same thing

what counts as r? - good as it can be flexible

justification definition can be circular  

reliable process is external and deals in causes 

justification is internal and deals with reasons

criticism can be a strength depending on intuition - e.g dates dude, animals have knowledge with RTB.

13 of 17

RTB + gettier

good becuase 'luck' is removed

can be too broad or narrow but flexibility is a strength

not good with fake barn because there's no issue with the process 

a response would be to consider that in context the processes in play become less reliable.

kinda gets blurry

14 of 17

VTB + AAA rating

Virtue underlies knowledge - The focus is on the reliable source .

A reliable dispostition in an agent = good knowledge

Ernest Sosa's AAA rating

Accuracy - true belief

Adroit - a belief formed by a reliable cognitive process - intellectual virtue

Apt - true becuase of the other two As - not becuase of change. it comes from intellectual knowlege

15 of 17

Clock Gettier Style

A clock has stopped

I walk past and see that it is at 12pm

I therefore think it is 12pm

it is 12 pm so I'm right

I have JTB

16 of 17

Virtue Epistemology + Gettier + other

Standard Gettier involves luck and therefore is not apt so deals with Gettier

Barney meets the AAA rating = knowledge

Sosa - it's animal knowledge - no awareness of context

this is talking about knowing you have knowledge not having knowledge

Reflective Knowledge 

  • The ability to refelcts on our claim to know things

Meta- Beliefs

  • beliefs about beliefs
17 of 17

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Philosophy resources:

See all Philosophy resources »See all Epistemology resources »