Philosophy -> Epistemology and Theory of Knowledge
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Hey friend,
To answer your question, I would say that whether or not Justified True Belief (JTB) is a reliable criterion for determining knowledge is a matter of some debate among philosophers.
JTB is often credited to Plato, who argued that knowledge requires three conditions: belief, truth, and justification. In other words, if one believes something to be true and their belief is justified (based on reasoning, evidence, etc.) and the belief is actually true, then they have knowledge.
However, in modern times, many philosophers have critiqued the JTB criterion for knowledge. One major problem with JTB is the “Gettier problem,” which refers to cases in which a person has a JTB but still wouldn’t be considered to have knowledge. For example, if someone sees a clock that says it’s 3pm and believes it to be true, and it just so happens that it is actually 3pm, but the clock is broken and stopped at 3pm the day before, then they don’t really have knowledge.
Another criticism of JTB is that it doesn’t take into account the role of counterfactuals. In other words, if someone has a JTB about something, but if that situation were different (if they had different evidence, or if the truth value of the belief were different), then they might not have knowledge. This means that JTB might not be a reliable criterion because it depends on specific circumstances and might not be generalizable.
Finally, some philosophers argue that JTB doesn’t capture some types of knowledge that are important, such as “know-how” or knowledge that can’t be explicitly articulated but is still important.
Overall, while JTB has been a popular criterion for knowledge throughout history, it is no longer considered a reliable criterion by many philosophers. However, this debate is ongoing and new ideas are constantly being proposed, so the answer might change in the future!
Hope that helps!
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