3.1.1 What is knowledge - 5 markers

Question 1

The conditions are not individually necessary

Question 2

The conditions are not jointly suffient - cases of lucky true beliefs - Edmund Gettiers counter examples

Answer 2

Gettier’s counter examples show that the conditions of the tripartite view of knowledge are not jointly sufficient by giving the counter example of Smith and Jones applying for a job.

Smith is justified in believing propositions (i) and (ii)
- ‘Jones will get the job’
- ‘The person who will get the job has 10 coins in their pocket’.

Smith infers from the proposition (i) and (ii) that (iii) ‘the man with 10 coins in his pocket will get the job’.

In this case propositions (i) and (ii) are justified, and since propositions (iii) is justifiably inferred from propositions (i) and (ii), proposition (iii) is a justified belief.

The Gettier twist: for some reason it is actually Smith, not Jones, who gets the job, and Smith has 10 coins in his pocket. Proposition (iii) is therefore a justified true belief.

However, despite Gettiers example fulfilling the conditions of the tripartite view, it is not an example of knowledge but a case of ‘epistemic luck’.

Question 3

Gettier’s case and how it can be solved by infallibilism

Question 4

Gettier’s case and how it can be solved by adding the no false lemmas condition

Question 5

Gettier’s case and how it can be solved by replacing ‘justified’ with ‘reliabilism’

Question 6

Gettier’s case and how it can be solved with an account of epistemic virtue