Knowledge and the Gettier Problem

Abstract

Edmund Gettier's 1963 verdict about what knowledge is not has become an item of philosophical orthodoxy, accepted by philosophers as a genuine epistemological result. It assures us that - contrary to what Plato and later philosophers have thought - knowledge is not merely a true belief well supported by epistemic justification. But that orthodoxy has generated the Gettier problem - epistemology's continuing struggle to understand how to accommodate Gettier's apparent result within an improved conception of knowledge. In this book, Stephen Hetherington argues that none of epistemology's standard attempts to solve that problem have succeeded: he shows how subtle yet fundamental mistakes - regarding explication, methodology, properties, modality, and fallibility - have permeated those responses to Gettier's challenge. His fresh and original book outlines a new way of solving the problem, and an improved grasp of Gettier's challenge and its significance is the result. In a sense, Plato can now embrace Gettier.

Experimental Epistemology and "Gettier" Cases

“…views about what the "distinctive" feature of Gettier's cases was (Hetherington 2016), and rather than try to "vindicate the tradition [sic] by showing JTB to be almost right" (Turri 2012b: 257), a much better way forward would be for epistemologists, individually and collectively, to stop crediting Gettier for an idea that was not originally his, stop repeating lies about the historical importance of the theory he criticized, stop ignoring the irredeemable faults of his original cases, and be much more discerning and humble about curating genres of thought experiment, identifying central tendencies in judgments about particular cases, and drawing theoretical conclusions based on such (alleged) tendencies. In short, end the malpractice.…”

Argumentation in Philosophical Controversies

“…As a contrast to ancient dialectics, Dutilh Novaes chooses the controversy over the characterization of knowledge that began in 1963 with the publication of 'Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? ', by Edmund Gettier, and extends to the present day in a torrent of publications facetiously known as 'Gettierology' (for recent surveys see Hetherington 2016Hetherington , 2019. Certainly, this controversy is very different from those of ancient dialectics, which were developed through the oral communication of a small number of participants, over a limited and relatively short period of time.…”

Advice for Infallibilists: DIVORCE and RETREAT!

“…(Lewis 1996, p. 556-7). 20 See also Hetherington (2012Hetherington ( , 2016. 21 For a similar criticism, cf.…”