Epistemology: Knowledge, Justification, and Skepticism
What this domain asks
Epistemology studies knowledge, belief, justification, and truth. Expect the classical analysis of knowledge as justified true belief, the Gettier problem, theories of justification (foundationalism, coherentism, reliabilism), internalism versus externalism, sources of knowledge (perception, reason, testimony, memory), and skeptical challenges from Descartes and Hume.
Concepts to hold firmly
- JTB analysis: knowledge requires truth, belief, and justification.
- Gettier cases: justified true belief that falls short of knowledge because the justification is accidentally correct.
- Foundationalism: basic beliefs support others without needing support. Coherentism: beliefs justify one another by mutual fit. Reliabilism: justification comes from belief-forming processes that reliably yield truth.
- Internalism/externalism: must the justifying factors be accessible to the believer?
- Skepticism: global (no knowledge at all), local (specific domains), and the problem of induction.
Traps
- Confusing justification with truth: a justified belief can be false.
- Treating reliabilism as internalist; reliability is typically external to the agent's awareness.
- Reading Descartes' evil demon as a claim rather than a methodological device.
- Assuming coherentism denies any role for experience.
Rule of thumb
Ask whether the question is about the definition of knowledge (JTB, Gettier), the structure of justification (foundations or coherence), or the source of belief (perception, reason, testimony). Each points to a different answer set.
Worked example
"You believe a clock reads noon because it does, though the clock stopped twelve hours ago. Do you know it is noon?" No-your belief is true and justified but only by luck, which is the Gettier structure.