Hello World, My name is Jeremy Reddig and the purpose of this blog roll is to satisfy two things (1) our understanding of epistemology and (2) a means to improve my writing. Go ahead and leave comments below to help me, help you. Note: I will use examples from the book and from my own experience.
To be clear, I am taking notes from a book titled An Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology by Matthias Steup; if you need a copy to follow along click on the the title in this sentence and a link will direct you.
The entire book is centered around propositional knowledge: What is it for S to know P?
The entire book is centered around propositional knowledge: What is it for S to know P?
This is to say: What is it for (S) Jeremy Reddig to know (P) Philopsychonomics is a field of study? or What is it for (S) Jeremy Reddig to know (P) he is living a healthy life?
Well, before we can decide whether or not the above statements are satisfied we have to know what conditions are necessary for S to know P.
The book starts off a little shaky, but for good reasons. There are three conditions that are necessary for S to know P, however as we observe the conditions a problem arises. We will get into the Gettier problem in our next blog post, for now let us reveal the three conditions.
In order for S to know P, S must satisfy the following conditions:
1. Truth Condition: P be true
2. Belief Condition: S believes P
3. Justification Condition: A true belief amounts to knowledge only if it is justified.
This is to say that in order for knowledge to be a true belief it must be justified. This justification goes further than the individual being able to truly believe in the justified knowledge. A justified true belief is knowledge and known by a collective and society alike. The knowledge has to be supported with reasoning showing proof of the justified true belief.
An unjustified true belief is merely a lucky guess, for it lacks sufficient reason. For example, the belief was justified that our earth was not round, and if one were to set sail they would simply fall off the face of earth. There was reason for their beliefs, and it wasn't until a brave sailor set sea to test this belief that they discovered sufficient reasoning for earth to be round as the team returned to shore. If, the ship of sailors didn't return the people would have believed earth to not be round; forming a lucky guess. However earth not being round was a lucky guess, because the belief was unjustified that the earth was not round until it was justified with a true belief and sufficient reasoning that the earth was in fact round.
This error in reasoning presented a problem that was brought to light by Mr. Edmund Gettier when he realized that these three conditions are not sufficient for a justified true belief to sufficiently become knowledge.
Have you experienced a true belief that may not be sufficiently justified and is similar to the earth not being round? share your thoughts below.
This is to say that in order for knowledge to be a true belief it must be justified. This justification goes further than the individual being able to truly believe in the justified knowledge. A justified true belief is knowledge and known by a collective and society alike. The knowledge has to be supported with reasoning showing proof of the justified true belief.
An unjustified true belief is merely a lucky guess, for it lacks sufficient reason. For example, the belief was justified that our earth was not round, and if one were to set sail they would simply fall off the face of earth. There was reason for their beliefs, and it wasn't until a brave sailor set sea to test this belief that they discovered sufficient reasoning for earth to be round as the team returned to shore. If, the ship of sailors didn't return the people would have believed earth to not be round; forming a lucky guess. However earth not being round was a lucky guess, because the belief was unjustified that the earth was not round until it was justified with a true belief and sufficient reasoning that the earth was in fact round.
This error in reasoning presented a problem that was brought to light by Mr. Edmund Gettier when he realized that these three conditions are not sufficient for a justified true belief to sufficiently become knowledge.
Have you experienced a true belief that may not be sufficiently justified and is similar to the earth not being round? share your thoughts below.
No comments:
Post a Comment