Week 10 Knowledge

The Analysis of Knowledge (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

What is knowledge?

Do we have knowledge? Putnam BiV

graph TD
    K --> B["B Factive (Or dispositions to believe)"]
    B --> T[knowledge entails truth]
    B --> J["J Justification"]
    style T fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:4px
    T --> CF[Correspond with the facts]

The Gettier Problem

Smith believes (and has the justification): The man who will get a job has 10 coins in his pocket.

Spanish Wine example: Advertised as aged wine, but only kept in the cellar for 10 years but added ingredients to make the flavor.

The justification does not link up to the truth at all and we don't call it knowledge.

Summary

The Gettier Problem challenges the traditional definition of knowledge as justified true belief. It demonstrates that even when someone holds a belief that is both true and justified, they may not necessarily have knowledge if their justification is based on false or misleading evidence. Gettier provided thought experiments where individuals arrive at true beliefs through faulty reasoning or lucky guesses, despite having seemingly good reasons for their beliefs. These cases show that the traditional definition of knowledge is incomplete and that additional conditions are needed to account for the element of luck or coincidence that can undermine genuine knowledge.

Possible solution to the Gettier stuff

Fake-barn thought experiment

Fake Barn Cases (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
The "fake barn" case, a classic thought experiment in epistemology, challenges the idea that knowledge is simply justified true belief. In this scenario, an individual encounters a real barn in a region filled with convincing barn facades. Despite having a justified belief that they are seeing a barn, their belief is ultimately based on luck, as they are unaware of the deceptive environment. This case, along with other Gettier-style examples, demonstrates that justification and truth are not sufficient for knowledge, as there needs to be a stronger connection between the belief and the fact that excludes lucky guesses or accidental truths. This has led to various attempts to refine the analysis of knowledge by introducing additional conditions, such as safety, sensitivity, or the absence of epistemic luck, to account for the element of fortune that can undermine genuine knowledge.

Any of these semi-contradictive cases are called a Gettier Case

Knowledge is the norm of assertion, and assertion is just "me stating something that I believe to be true"

Knowledge is the goal of inquiry

The value of K