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Respectful Disagreement What should we do when we find out that someone we consider just as or even more intelligent and informed as we are on a certain topic disagrees with us on that topic?. Points of Disagreement: Horse A won the race. God exists.
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Respectful Disagreement What should we do when we find out that someone we consider just as or even more intelligent and informed as we are on a certain topic disagrees with us on that topic?
Points of Disagreement: • Horse A won the race. • God exists. • Katy Perry’s music is better than Lady Gaga’s music. • Capital punishment is morally acceptable. • Capital punishment is a significant deterrent of crime. • Hitler was a moral monster. • Babe Ruth was a better baseball player than Ty Cobb. • Jane Austen wrote “Pride and Prejudice” after she wrote “Emma”. • There is no life after death. • If JFK hadn’t been assassinated, he would have run for president again. • Michael Jordan is tall. • Kobe Bryant is famous. • He should add more sugar to the recipe.
Some Results So Far: • Some beliefs are true, others are false. • Thus, Belief Truth • A person can believe X without having justification for that belief. • Thus, Belief Justified Belief. • A person can have a justified belief that isn’t true. • Thus, TrueBelief Justified Belief. • A person can believe X without knowing X. • Thus, Belief Knowledge • A person can have a true belief that doesn’t amount to knowledge • Thus, True Belief Knowledge. • A person can have a justified belief that doesn’t amount to knowledge. • Thus, Justified Belief Knowledge.
Therefore, we should keep these five key concepts distinct: • Belief • Truth • Justified Belief • True Belief • Knowledge • These are five separate things; don’t confuse them!
Lesson: Beliefs False Beliefs True Beliefs Justified True Belief Justified False Belief K Knowledge must be found in the JTB area. Question: is K = JTB? Or is K JTB?
JTB Analysis of Propositional Knowledge: • Someone knows P just in case • She believes P • P is true, and • She bases her belief on strong overallevidence or reason for P; her belief in P is overalljustifiedorwarranted • Main problems studied in epistemology lie in the last bullet point: • How good do your reasons/evidence have to be to make your belief count as knowledge? • What kinds of evidence are there? • What’s the relation between evidence/reason and justification (e.g., does justification always require evidence/reason)? • What is this “basing” relation?