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How does The Gettier Problem challenge traditional theories of knowledge?

Anabelle Vick

The Gettier problem is a great challenge to the traditional theories of knowledge. It is an idea raised by Edmund Gettier in the 1960s, which says that it is possible for someone to have a true belief about something without actually having knowledge of it.

Traditional theories of knowledge say that in order to have knowledge of something, you must believe it to be true, have good reasons to believe it is true, and that it must actually be true. This seems like a straight forward enough definition, however, there are situations that fall under the Gettier problem that challenges this understanding.

For example, imagine that I look at the sky and I see a bird flying overhead. I believe that I saw a bird flying overhead and I have good reasons to believe it was a bird because I am an expert bird-watcher. Unknown to me, however, a drone was flying overhead that was designed to look like a bird. In this case, I still have a true belief about seeing a bird flying overhead, but my belief was formed based on a faulty premise. I did not actually see a bird, but recognized a drone designed to look like one.

This presents a challenge to the traditional theory of knowledge because it's possible for someone to have a belief that turns out to be true by luck without actually having any knowledge that it is true. If someone is lucky enough to form a belief about something that is true by chance, that belief is not enough to count as knowledge.

This problem is important because if we cannot define what knowledge is, it becomes difficult to know what information we can trust and believe. It also makes it difficult to learn from what we know because it is uncertain if what we know is right or not.

The Gettier problem has sparked a lot of debate in the philosophy community regarding what counts as knowledge and how we can define it. Many philosophers have tried to come up with a solution to the Gettier problem, such as the causal theory of knowledge and the defeasibility theory of knowledge, but no such solution has been fully accepted.

In conclusion, the Gettier problem challenges the traditional theory of knowledge by demonstrating that it is possible to have a true belief about something without actually having knowledge of it. Philosopher's have attempted to resolve the Gettier problem, but so far, no solution has been fully agreed upon by the philosophy community. This problem will continue to play a crucial role in epistemology, the study of knowledge, for years to come.