Philosophy Paper
Landon_soulard
GettierCases1-1.pptxWhat is Knowledge?
What is Knowledge?
Noun (dictionary.com)
acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation; general erudition: knowledge of many things.
familiarity or conversance, as with a particular subject or branch of learning: A knowledge of accounting was necessary for the job.
acquaintance or familiarity gained by sight, experience, or report: a knowledge of human nature.
the fact or state of knowing; the perception of fact or truth; clear and certain mental apprehension.
awareness, as of a fact or circumstance: He had knowledge of her good fortune.
Perception?
True Belief?
True Belief + an Account
True Belief + an Account What Account?
A Question
Sally has good evidence that her friend Beth drives a Ford. She then infers that Beth drives an American car. Unbeknownst to Sally, Beth has recently traded in her Ford for a General Motors car. Does Sally know that Beth drives an American car?
Yes, she really knows.
No, she only thinks she knows.
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Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? Edmund Gettier 1927-
Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
Many theorists thought to understand Knowledge in terms of Justified True Belief
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Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
More precisely:
S knows that P iff:
P is true
S believes that P
S is justified in believing that P
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Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
Gettier argues that these conditions fail, because there are cases in which someone might meet these conditions, and yet still fail to have knowledge.
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Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
Case 1:
Smith and Jones have both applied for the same job. Smith has very good evidence that Jones will get the job, and Smith has very good evidence that Jones has ten coins in his pocket.
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Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
Case 1:
So Smith believes:
Jones is the man who will get the job, and Jones has ten coins in his pocket.
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Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
Case 1:
So Smith justifiably believes:
(Q) Jones is the man who will get the job, and Jones has ten coins in his pocket.
From this Smith infers:
(P) The man who will get the job has ten coins in his pocket.
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Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
Case 1:
BUT, it turns out that Smith is actually going to get the job, and that Smith has ten coins in his pocket (although he is unaware of both these facts)
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Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
Case 1:
So (P) ‘the man who will get the job has ten coins in his pocket’ is TRUE (because Smith will get the job and has ten coins)
And Smith is justified in believing (P) – (P) logically follows from (Q), and Smith had good (although, as it turns out, not accurate) evidence for (Q)
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Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
Case 1:
BUT, Smith does not know (P), because he doesn’t know how many coins are in his pocket, and he doesn’t know that he will get the job.
He is just ‘lucky’ that (P) turns out to be true.
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Jones is going to get the job.
Jones
Smith
Jones is the Boss’ Son!
Jones is going to get the job.
Jones
Smith
Jones is the Boss’ Son!
Jones has Ten Coins in his Pocket
Jones is going to get the job.
Jones
Smith
Jones is the Boss’ Son!
Jones has ten coins.
The person who will get the job has ten coins.
Jones is going to get the job.
Jones
Smith
Jones is the Boss’ Son!
Jones has ten coins.
The person who will get the job has ten coins.
Is actually going to get the job and has ten coins!
Jones is going to get the job.
Jones
Smith
Jones is the Boss’ Son!
Jones has ten coins.
The person who will get the job has ten coins.
Is actually going to get the job and has ten coins!
True! Justified!
Knowledge?
Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
Case 2:
Suppose Smith has strong evidence for
(A) Jones owns a Ford.
Smith then (picking a location at random) creates the following proposition:
(B) Jones owns a Ford or Brown is in Barcelona
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Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
Case 2:
(A) Entails (B), so Smith is justified in believing (B).
BUT: as it turns out, Jones does not own a Ford, but Brown is in Barcelona
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Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
Case 2:
So (B) is true, and Smith is justified in believing (B), but Smith does not know (B)!
BOOM
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Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? Review
We can justifiably believe a false proposition.
From that proposition, we can justifiably infer some other proposition which happens to be true.
So we can have a justified, true, belief that does not count as knowledge.
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Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
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Do you know that the is a sheep in the field?
Yes.
No.
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The Inescapability of Gettier Problems Linda Zagzebski
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The Inescapability of Gettier Problems
Gettier problems will arise for ANY theory of knowledge in which knowledge is defined as Truth plus Something Else
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The Inescapability of Gettier Problems
“As long as the property that putatively converts true belief into knowledge is analyzed in such a way that it is strongly linked with the truth, but does not guarantee it, it will always be possible to devise cases in which the link between such a property and the truth is broken but regained by accident. Such is the nature of Gettier cases.”
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Fake Barn Case
An accident of bad luck (being in fake barn country) is cancelled out by an accident of good luck (looking at the 1 real barn)
True Belief
Good Evidence
Actual Reason the Belief is True
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The Inescapability of Gettier Problems
So Knowledge = Truth + X + luck
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I think you have disease X because
You have the antibodies of disease X
I think you have disease X because
You have the antibodies of disease X
Has disease Y!
I think you have disease X because
You have the antibodies of disease X
Has disease Y!
Her strange biochemistry makes her bodies produce antibodies for disease X
I think you have disease X because
You have the antibodies of disease X
Has disease Y!
Her strange biochemistry makes her bodies produce antibodies for disease X
Also JUST got disease X
The Inescapability of Gettier Problems
“Almost every contemporary theory of justification or warrant aims only to give the conditions for putting the believer in the best position for getting the truth. The best position is assumed to be very good, but imperfect, for such is life. Properly functioning faculties need not be working perfectly, but only well enough…As long as the truth is never assured by the conditions which make the state justified, there will be situations in which a false belief is justified.”
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The Inescapability of Gettier Problems
“Almost every contemporary theory of justification or warrant aims only to give the conditions for putting the believer in the best position for getting the truth. The best position is assumed to be very good, but imperfect, for such is life. Properly functioning faculties need not be working perfectly, but only well enough…As long as the truth is never assured by the conditions which make the state justified, there will be situations in which a false belief is justified.”
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