What Does It Mean to Know Something?

1
What Does It Mean to Know Something?

• Externalism I know something if my belief
  correctly matches the external world (even
  if I dont know how it does)
• A belief is warranted if it is based on a
  procedure that yields true beliefs and it is
  justified if it is based on reliable information
  produced by such a procedure (reliabilism)
• Production of such information is due to facts
  about the world (naturalism)

Plantinga
2
An Objection to Externalism
Keith Lehrer

• Even if the information I have is reliable and
  correct, I cannot be said to know it unless I
  (internally) know that it is reliable and correct

3
Virtue Epistemology

• Good thinkers learn to spot what is
  reliable and correct by developing
  virtues of mind. For example, they strive to
• accept reliable testimony, avoid hasty
  generalizations, consider counter-arguments, be
  open-minded, persevere in inquiry, integrate
  beliefs, explain complex sets of data, recognize
  how knowledge is social
• this is not a procedure it is a way of life

Linda Zagzebski