Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
What is Knowledge - Philosophy A-Level - Coggle Diagram
What is Knowledge - Philosophy A-Level
Tripartite definition of knowledge - JTB - Justified True Belief
Formulated by Plato
The Tripartite Definition of Knowledge states that in order for a proposition to classify as knowledge, it must be True, Justified, and must be a Belief
"I know that there is a chair in front of me because I am looking at it and touching it". Fulfils the Tripartite definition of knowledge
Truth: The proposition must be true (There really is a chair there).
Belief: The person must believe the proposition (I believe there is a chair).
Justification: The person has good reasons/evidence for the belief (I am looking at it and touching it).
Gettier Objections
Case 1: Smith, Jones and the Ford
Case 2: Smith, Jones, The Coins, and the Job
Defining Knowledge
Acquaintance knowledge - Knowing Of
I know London
Propositional knowledge - Knowing That
I know that a triangle has three sides and angles that make up 180 degrees
Ability knowledge - Knowing How
I know how to drive
Infallibilism
No False Lemmas
Lemma = a belief held to be true and used to justify knowledge.
J + T + B + N (N = No False Lemmas)
Argues that true justified beliefs are not based on a false premises
Attempts to eliminate instances of ‘lucky’ truths
A False Lemma in the Gettier case involving Smith and jones would be the original belief that Jones will get the job
No False Lemmas Objection
Imagine a county where almost all visible barns are fake façades—they look exactly like real barns from the road.
There is one real barn in the area. Henry is driving through the county. He doesn’t know about the fakes.
By chance, Henry looks at the one real barn and thinks: “That’s a barn.”
Why this defeats No False Lemmas
Henry’s belief is true There really is a barn in front of him.
His belief is justified He has normal visual perception in good lighting, no hallucinations, no deception in this case.
His reasoning involves no false lemmas Henry does not reason like: “That’s a barn because all barns around here are real” (which would be false) Instead, his belief is based directly on perception: “It looks like a barn, so it’s a barn” No false intermediate belief is used. ➡️ So the No False Lemmas condition is satisfied.