Knowledge, JTB and Gettier
Distinguish types of knowledge and evaluate analyses of propositional knowledge after the Gettier challenge.
How to study A-level Philosophy
Learn each position as an argument, connect it to its strongest objection and reply, then decide what conclusion the dialectic supports.
Core concepts
Concept 1
Knowledge by acquaintance, ability knowledge and propositional knowledge answer different questions and require different analyses.
Exam cue: State why the subject's belief is justified, true and still intuitively not knowledge.
Concept 2
The justified true belief analysis treats truth, belief and justification as individually necessary and jointly sufficient.
Exam cue: Test whether infallibilism, no false lemmas, reliabilism or virtue epistemology removes the relevant luck.
Concept 3
Gettier cases aim to show that a justified true belief can be true through epistemic luck rather than knowledge.
Exam cue: Distinguish repairing JTB from offering a different analysis of knowledge.
Targeted study blocks
Specified core
Secure the claim and its place in the debate
Compare JTB with infallibilist, no-false-lemmas, reliabilist and virtue-epistemological responses to the original Gettier problem.
Philosophical work
Reconstruct, challenge and judge the argument
Construct and diagnose cases: identify the luck, apply each repair precisely and test whether a new counterexample survives.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Assuming any mistaken belief is a Gettier case.
Guardrail: Do not replace philosophical reasoning with quotation, biography, intuition or a philosopher's name.
Treating reliable belief formation as certainty.
Guardrail: Do not replace philosophical reasoning with quotation, biography, intuition or a philosopher's name.
Using the label virtue epistemology without connecting knowledge to intellectual ability or credit.
Guardrail: Do not replace philosophical reasoning with quotation, biography, intuition or a philosopher's name.
Memory anchors
Propositional knowledge
Propositional knowledge is knowledge that a proposition is true.
JTB
JTB analyses knowledge as justified true belief.
Gettier problem
The Gettier problem shows how justified true belief may be true through luck.
No false lemmas
The no-false-lemmas condition rules out knowledge inferred through a false step.
Reliabilism
Reliabilism links justification or knowledge to a reliably truth-producing process.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
Which is an example of propositional knowledge?
Which is ability knowledge?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
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