Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
JTB: Justified True Belief - Coggle Diagram
JTB: Justified True Belief
Different types of knowledge
Acquaintance Knowledge
'Knowing that' - knowing facts, something that is a claim about the world that is true/false
Propositional Knowledge
'Knowing of' - knowing something a posterior from experience we gain through our senses
Ability Knowledge
'Knowing how' - knowing how to do something, e.g sewing
The tripartite theory of knowledge (JTB
a proposition can qualify as knowledge if: the proposition is true, you believe that proposition, your belief that proposition is justified
created by Plato
Issues with the JTB theory of knowledge (Gettier cases)
there can be cases with
lucky true beliefs
which is outlined in the Gettier cases, these were created by Edmund Gettier in 1963
Smith and Jones:
two men (Smith & Jones) attend a job interview, Smith believes that Jones will get the job and then sees that Jones has 10 coins in his pocket leading him to form the proposition that 'the man with 10 coins in his pocket will get the job' however, later on Smith discovers that he got the job and then discovers that he also had 10 coins in his pocket unknowingly. This means that his proposition was true and justified however does this class as knowledge due to its formation relying heavily on luck?
Brown in Barcelona:
Smith believes that Jones has a Ford however he finds out that this is not true but Jones tells Smith that Brown is in Barcelona. This leads Smith to form the conclusion that either Jones owns a Ford or Brown is in Barcelona. This proposition is both justified and true yet can it qualify as knowledge due to it being based upon luck?
Infallibilism
infallibilism argues that for a belief to qualify as knowledge, it must be true and justified in a way that makes it undoubtable
this supports JTB and criticises the Gettier cases as all the 'knowledge' cannot provide certainty
Descartes believed in infallibilism and tried to find knowledge that could never be doubted
criticism
- infallibilism is too strict, it leads to the conclusion that nothing can qualify as knowledge because there is too much space for doubt in everything. for example, we may be brains in a vat therefore we cannot know anything. Descartes demonstrates how every belief can be doubted in his 3 waves of doubt
JTB+N (no false lemmas)
a lemma is a belief that is held to be true and is used to justify another piece of knowledge
knowledge that is justified and true but based on a false belief cannot qualify as knowledge
the Gettier cases cannot qualify as knowledge due to being formed using a false belief. for example, in Smith & Jones the 'knowledge' that "the man with 10 coins in his pocket will get the job" cannot be knowledge due to it being based on the false belief that Jones will get the job.
criticism
- fake barn county. the fake barn county is the story that Henry is driving through a county where the locals make fake barns that he sees and believes are actual barns (he is not aware of the fake barn tradition) but on one occasion he sees a real barn and believes it is a barn. According to the JTB+N approach to knowledge, this is knowledge. However, this is another instance where one is lucky in finding 'knowledge'
Replacing the J with R (reliably formed) RTB
reliabilism claims that a proposition can be knowledge if it is true, you believe that proposition, your belief in that proposition is formed through a reliable belief making process, a reliable method is a way that produces a high percentage of true beliefs
an advantage of reliabilism is that it allows room for children and animals to have knowledge as they have reliable belief forming processes such as eyesight. This differs to other approaches to knowledge that usually state that children and animals cannot possess knowledge.
criticism
- fake barn county. Henry's belief that "there is a barn" is caused through a reliable belief forming process (visual perception) however, this is yet another case of a lucky belief
VTB Virtue Epistemology
Zagzebski argues that adding a third condition to JTB leaves room for lucky beliefs and therefore there has to be a link between the truth element and the third condition in order to eliminate this
Zagzebski states that there must be intellectual virtue in order to find knowledge: James believes that proposition, James' belief in that proposition arises from an act of intellectual virtue
Sosa's Triple A rating
Sosa believed that knowledge has the following 3 properties: accuracy, adroitness, aptness
Accuracy:
the arrow hits the target,
the knowledge is true
Adroitness:
the archer is skilled,
the believer is intellectually virtuous
Aptness
: the archer hits the target due to skill rather than luck,
the belief is true because of the believer's intellectual virtues
criticism
- vtb rules out children having knowledge despite the fact that they can have some knowledge