WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE?

Q: A window cleaner is cleaning the windows on the 25th floor of a skyscraper, when he slips and falls. He is not wearing a safety harness and nothing slows his fall, yet he suffered no injuries. Explain

QUESTIONS

Why do we want knowledge?

Who decides what counts as knowledge?

What different types of knowledge are there?

What is the nature of knowledge?

WHAT DIFFERENT TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE ARE THERE?

Knowing what / that & and knowing how

Knowing (by acquaintance)

Personal knowledge and shared knowledge

THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE

1 . Common sense.

“knowledge is nothing more than organised common sense”

What is meant by this?What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a description?

KNOWLEDGE AS A MAP

‘THE MAP IS NOT THE TERRITORY’

Reconsider your mental map!What habits and biases affect your knowledge?

2. CERTAINTY

“Knowledge is not about what you think is true... That’s belief. Knowledge concerns only what is certain.”

1. List 5 things you are most certain about.2. Share this with you’re a neighbour, do they

agree?

ARE THESE KNOWLEDGE STATEMENTS CERTAIN?

1. I know that Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in 1969.

2. I know that strawberries are red.3. I know that if a is bigger than b and b is

bigger than c, then a is bigger than c.4. I know that murder is wrong.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of certainty as a criteria of knowledge?

3. RELATIVISM

“ There is no such thing as absolute truth, which exists objectively and independently of what anyone believes is true. Truth is relative and may be different for different cultures and people. The best we can do is say ‘that’s true for me’ or ‘that’s false for me’.”

WHICH STATEMENT DO YOU AGREE WITH?

1. A: “The earth is round.”B: “The earth is not round, its flat”

2. A: Rembrandt painted some of the most important pictures in the last 1000 years.B: Rembrandt's pictures are boring.

3. A: 2+2=4B: 2+2=5

4. A: Female circumcision is wrong.B: Female circumcision is right and necessary.

Which would a relativist say is true?

WHICH STATEMENT DO YOU AGREE WITH?

5. A: All truth is relative.B: Truth is not relative, (but dependent on

how things objectively are).

Which would a relativist say is true?

4. KNOWLEDGE IS JUSTIFIED TRUE BELIEF.

From Plato’s dialogue, Theatetus.

Knowledge is ‘true judgement plus logos’

Or‘ true judgement with

an account’

JUSTIFIED TRUE BELIEF

Do we need all three conditions?For each, explain why this is or isn’t the same as knowledge.

1. True belief

2. Justified belief

3. Justified truth

Do you accept this assessment of the nature of knowledge?

What counts as justification?

THE COW IN THE FIELD 1

Farmer Field is concerned about his prize cow, Daisy. In fact, he is so concerned that when his dairyman tells him that Daisy is in the field, happily grazing, he says he needs to know for certain. He doesn't want just to have a 99 per cent idea that Daisy is safe, he wants to be able to say that he knows Daisy is okay. Farmer Field goes out to the field and standing by the gate sees in the distance, behind some trees, a white and black shape that he recognises as his favourite cow. He goes back to the dairy and tells his friend that he knows Daisy is in the field. At this point, does Farmer Field really know it?

THE COW IN THE FIELD 2

The dairyman says he will check too, and goes to the field. There he finds Daisy, having a nap in a hollow, behind a bush, well out of sight of the gate. He also spots a large piece of black and white paper that has got caught in a tree. Daisy is in the field, as Farmer Field thought. But was he right to say that he knew she was?

From 101 Philosophy Problems by Martin Cohen