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Plato's Definition of Knowledge, Exercises of Philosophy

Plato's Definition of Knowledge. Why can we not define knowledge as "true belief"? Consider the following scenario: • Suppose your friend leaves the house ...

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Plato's Definition of Knowledge
Why can we not define knowledge as "true belief"?
Consider the following scenario:
Suppose your friend leaves the house and tell you
that she is going out for a smoke.
Suppose that you believe that she is outside
smoking.
Suppose that she actually is outside smoking.
Thus you have a true belief that she is outside
smoking.
Do you know that she is outside smoking?
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Plato's Definition of Knowledge

Why can we not define knowledge as "true belief"?

Consider the following scenario:

• Suppose your friend leaves the house and tell you

that she is going out for a smoke.

• Suppose that you believe that she is outside

smoking.

• Suppose that she actually is outside smoking.

• Thus you have a true belief that she is outside

smoking.

Do you know that she is outside smoking?

What about defining knowledge as

" warranted true belief "?

Consider again the above scenario:

  • Suppose that you attempt to justify your claim

that you know that your friend is outside smoking

by saying that "in my experience she has always

told the truth" and that "I saw her leave the

house with a pack of cigarettes and a lighter in

her hand."

It seems like this establishes that your true belief that

she is outside smoking is warranted? Does it?

  • What if you also smelled cigarette smoke after

she left the house. Would your true belief then

be warranted?

This leads to the question of how we define the term

"warranted."

Is there a difficulty in attempting to answer this question?

What if I were to call a true belief warranted if the kind of

evidence given to support the belief generally leads to true

beliefs? How does this work as a definition of knowledge?

  • Clarity is key since it affects how it appears that you understand the material and how effective your arguments will come across, as well as the general impression of your essay
  • Don’t be too ambitious – you are being graded on your understanding, your arguments, your organization, clarity and style and not on how profound your conclusion is – evidence of original thinking is an asset, but not a requirement