Epistemology
From RationalWiki
Epistemology (from επιστήμη, knowledge) is the branch of philosophy that examines how human beings acquire knowledge and form beliefs, the nature of knowledge and beliefs, and how they differ from each other.
[edit] Definitions of knowledge
Justified true belief is one of the most common definitions of knowledge. It states that knowledge is:
- a belief: one can't know something is true if they don't believe it is true
- which is true: one cannot "know" 1=2, right?
- and justified: if one believes that there is a block of cheese orbiting Jupiter, and if it so happens that there is a block of delicious cheese orbiting Jupiter, that person still can't be said to have known that because they had no reason for their belief - they just lucked out that it was true.
The justified true belief definition is very common, but there are flaws. The most common objection is the "Gettier problem" or "Barn problem": Suppose a man looks at a large field, and he sees a cardboard cutout of a barn in that field. His eyesight being poor due to drinking bathtub moonshine, he believes the cardboard cutout to be an actual barn. Suppose further that there is a barn in the field, but so far away he couldn't possibly see it, or maybe behind a hill or something. Then the man will believe that there is a barn in the field, and his belief will be both true and justified (since he has reason to believe that there is a barn, and there is a barn). But is this really different from the man who believes there is a fine cheese in orbit around Jupiter and happens to be right? And we did not call that knowledge. [1]

