Knowledge And Justification Philosophy PDF

**Knowledge and Justification** Justified True Belief (JTB) - **Definition:** The traditional account of knowledge requiring a belief that is true and justified. - **Examples:** - **Stopped Clock:** A clock showing the correct time only twice a day, where a person looking a...

**Knowledge and Justification** Justified True Belief (JTB) - **Definition:** The traditional account of knowledge requiring a belief that is true and justified. - **Examples:** - **Stopped Clock:** A clock showing the correct time only twice a day, where a person looking at it at that time believes it's the correct time but isn't - **Hologram:** Observing a hologram and mistaking it for reality, despite having justified reasons to believe in its existence. Gettier Cases - **Challenges to JTB:** - **Example Cases:** Illustrate situations where beliefs are justified and true but don\'t constitute knowledge, questioning the sufficiency of JTB. - **Impact:** These cases showed that justified true beliefs could still fail to amount to knowledge due to the involvement of luck or other external factors. Foundationalism and the Regress Argument - **Need for Justified Beliefs:** - **Basic Beliefs:** Self-justifying beliefs that don't require further justification. - **Non-Basic Beliefs:** Require a chain of justification. - **Types of Foundationalism:** - **Strong Foundationalism:** Asserts basic beliefs are infallible. - **Weak Foundationalism:** Accepts that basic beliefs may not always be infallible but are still more reliable than derived beliefs. The Value of Knowledge and Justification - **Instrumental vs. Non-instrumental Value:** - **True Belief:** Valuable for practical applications. - **Knowledge:** Seen as more stable and reliable, providing a foundation for further beliefs and actions. - **Clifford's Ethics of Belief:** - **Moral Duty:** Emphasizes the responsibility to ensure beliefs are well-founded. - **Example:** Shipowners believing their ship is seaworthy without evidence, leading to dire consequences when it sinks. **Radical Skepticism and Contextualism** Skepticism - **Skeptical Hypotheses:** - **Examples:** The Matrix scenario or an evil demon deceiving us about the world. - **Implications:** Argue that we can't know much about the world due to the potential for deception. Contextualism - **Response to Skepticism:** - **Context-Dependence:** Suggests knowledge claims hinge on context, with epistemic standards varying by situation. - **Everyday Scenarios:** Potentially dissolves skepticism by allowing lower standards in routine contexts. **Consciousness** Phenomenal Consciousness - **Subjective Experience:** - **Definition:** The "what it is like" aspect, focusing on qualitative experiences. - **Hard Problem**: The challenge of explaining why and how subjective experiences arise from physical processes. Physicalism and Dualism - **Physicalism:** - **Reductionist Theories:** Assert consciousness can be fully explained by physical states. - **Non-reductionist Theories:** Suggest physical explanations are insufficient. - **Dualism:** Proposes that consciousness involves separate non-physical properties. Mary Argument - **Thought Experiment:** - **Scenario:** Mary, a scientist who knows everything physical about color but never experienced it. - **Implication:** Upon seeing color, she gains new knowledge, indicating there are non-physical aspects to experience. **Perception** Veridical, Illusory, and Hallucinatory Experiences - **Types of Experiences:** - **Veridical:** Accurate perceptions reflecting reality. - **Illusory:** Misleading perceptions distorting reality. - **Hallucinatory:** Perceptions without external stimuli. Direct vs. Indirect Realism - **Direct Realism:** - **Definition:** Argues that perception connects us directly to objects without intermediaries. - **Indirect Realism:** - **Definition:** Suggests perception is mediated by mental representations or intermediaries. Argument from Illusions and Hallucinations - **Argument:** - **Premise:** Illusions and hallucinations often indistinguishable from veridical perceptions. - **Implication:** Supports indirect realism, questioning whether perception always directly links us to the external world. Disjunctivism - **Contrast:** Argues veridical and non-veridical experiences are fundamentally different, challenging indirect realism. **The Transparency of Experience** - **Transparency View:** - **Concept:** Our awareness in perceptual experience is directed outwardly, focusing on external objects. - **Challenge to Direct Realism:** Suggests perception might inherently involve a direct connection with the world, supporting the direct realist perspective.