Knowledge Exam Questions

• Plato
• justified: without it, it could be a lucky prejudice that happens to match reality
• true: knowledge can't be false
• belief: must have thought in the mind

J; probably not - possible to truly believe something something without justification

T; probably yes - impossible to "know" something that is false

T; no - science is mostly based on justified beliefs; Kuhn: paradigm shifts prove there's no "theory-neutral" way of explaining anything

T; still probably yes - no explanation for scientific proof unless we're getting closer to the truth; no paradigm shifts bc evidence/methodology overlaps; truth is claims of what is true/false within our own paradigm

B; potentially not - possible to know something without believing it through guesswork; Williamson: knowledge is not a form of belief but an entirely different state - you can't know something by believing it and it needs a factive mental state

B; potentially yes - one doesn't have knowledge bc one cannot provide J + one doesn't need to consciously know something to have knowledge; if someone thinks they know something and it turns out to be wrong, is this belief or knowledge?

• proof that knowledge isn't JTB
• Smith and Jones both apply for the same job
• P1: Jones will get the job
• P2: Jones has ten coins in his pocket
• C: the person who will get the job has ten coins in their pocket
• J bc Smith was sure Jones would get the job, T bc it's true, B bc Smith believed it; therefore knowledge
• most would argue that it wasn't knowledge therefore is JTB correct

• proof that knowledge isn't JTB
• Henry is driving when he notices lots of barns
• majority of barns are actually fake
• Henry points one out and says it's a real barn
• that one barn is the only real one
• J bc he's justified in believing barns are real when he sees them, T bc it is a real barn, B bc he believed it therefore knowledge
• most argue that it isn't knowledge

J+T+B+NFL

• justification can't be based on false premises made partway through an argument
• defence: intuitional and aligns with usage of "knowledge"
• criticism: fails at Barn Country bc no false premises

J+T+B+FoC

• defence: none
• criticism: possible to feel certain and still be wrong; fails at Gettier bc Smith could've been reasonably certain Jones would get the job/fails at Barn Country bc Henry could've been certain that all barns were real

J+T+B+NEFA

• no false assumptions not articulated in argument
• defence: rules out knowledge based on beliefs caused by false assumptions i.e Gettier (Smith had false assumption it was Jones); fits usage of "knowledge"
• criticism: fails Barn Country bc Henry didn't have a false assumption
• response: Lycan - it should count as knowledge

• justification needs to be so certain it's impossible to be wrong
• defence: copes with both examples bc both men can't be 100% certain about beliefs
• criticism: v strict in definition, potentially leading to solipsism

J+T+B without irrelevant alternatives

• defence: copes well with Descartes' argument, there could be an evil demon but it's unlikely
• criticism: doesn't work with Smith bc Jones getting the job was a relative alternative; Barn Country bc fake barns were a relative alternative

R+T+B

• knowledge is true belief caused by relative cognitive process producing high % of correct results
• defence: children and animals have knowledge
• criticism: Gettier - Smith had false belief that wasn't reliably informed; Barn Country - Nozick's "truth tracking" doesn't count a quick look around as reliable

V+T+B

• knowledge is belief formed as result of intellectual virtues
• defence: Sosa: knowledge is apt belief as result of virtues
• criticism: passes Gettier bc you have accuracy from intellectual virtue > luck; Barn Country: Henry used intellectual virtues and had true belief had occurred as a result but still not considered knowledge
• defence: Sosa: in Barn Country, Henry lacks understanding of context and doesn't have ability to judge how apt belief is therefore not knowledge

• a thought about the role + a mental representation of what is claims to be true (can be false)

• what a statement says (can be true or false)

• something that is just in the world without being true or false

• a correspondence between world + proposition

• something required in order to make an argument or definition

• a group of necessary condition guaranteeing the presence of an argument/definition i.e justified + true + belief