Introduction to Philosophy Lecture 8 Epistemology #1 By David Kelsey

Epistemology Epistemology: Some epistemological questions include: the theory of knowledge. analyzes concepts such as belief, truth, knowledge, justification and opinion. Some epistemological questions include: What is knowledge? Which of my beliefs do I know? How do I know them?

Defining Knowledge Knowledge: is often contrasted with mere opinion or mere belief. Beliefs without knowledge: But knowledge is more than just belief for I can have beliefs about all sorts of things without knowing them. True Belief: so for a belief to count as knowledge the belief must be true.

Knowledge and justification Knowledge: is also more than mere true belief. Justified beliefs: to count as knowledge, my true beliefs must be justified. Justification

Knowledge as JTB Knowledge as JTB: we might try to define knowledge as justified true belief then. Thus, S knows that p if and only if: S believes that p and P is true and S’s belief that p is justified Individually Necessary: Each of these three conditions is necessary for S to know that p. Jointly sufficient: together the 3 conditions are jointly sufficient for S to know that p.

Gettier & Knowledge Edmund Gettier Born in 1927 Philosophy professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst since 1967 In his article Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? Gettier argues that something’s being justified true belief is not a sufficient condition for it’s being knowledge. Thus, he argues that one can have a justified true belief and yet not have knowledge. Gettier provides two counterexamples to prove his point.

Smith, the job & 10 coins Smith, the job & 10 coins: Smith believes that Jones is the man who will get the job and Jones has 10 coins in his pocket. What is Smith’s justification for this belief? So Smith infers that it is true that The man who will get the job has ten coins in his pocket. But Smith gets the job & he has 10 coins in his pocket So Smith has JTB without knowledge!

The Ford & Barcelona Now Smith gains evidence for the proposition: That Jones owns a Ford (‘F’) What’s Smith’s justification for this belief So Smith Infers: Either Jones owns a Ford or Brown is in Barcelona. (‘A’) What is Smith’s justification for this belief? But Jones doesn’t own a Ford and Brown is in Barcelona So Smith has JTB without knowledge again

Replies to Gettier Denying the assumptions: He assumes that: 1. It is possible for a person to be justified in believing a proposition that is false 2. Closure: for any proposition P, if S is justified in believing P and P entails Q & S deduces Q from P & S accepts Q as a result of this deduction, then S is justified in believing Q. Example: Snowing so Freezing

Denying Closure Denying closure: We could deny Closure by holding an Externalist theory of justification. For the Externalist, justification comes not from an inner mental state at all. Instead, it is something external to your mind which confers justification on a belief. An Example: Reliabilism: a belief is justified if it is formed through a reliable belief forming process

More replies to Gettier Accepting the counterexamples: We might also reply to Gettier by accepting his counterexamples to the traditional definition of knowledge. Finding another analysis: In this case we are then out to find a more adequate analysis of KNOWLEDGE. Some examples: Infallible justification No false steps No defeaters

Last thoughts on defining knowledge What Gettier shows is that there is a bigger problem with conceptual analysis A possible reply: concepts like knowledge have a graded nature