What is Knowledge? Part 2: The Gettier Case
We have previously considered the traditional definition of knowledge as justified true belief. JTB: S knows that p iff (i) S believes that p; (ii) S's belief that p is justified; and (iii) p is true. This account of knowledge, however, fails to deal with the famous Gettier problem. Consider the following story: Jerry finds a newspaper in his office and starts reading it. He does not notice that the newspaper is yesterday's. On the anthropology section, it says, "The oldest person ever to have lived was Jeanne Calment, a French woman." On this basis, Jerry believes that Jeanne Calment, a French woman, was the oldest person ever to have lived. Jerry then infers, and comes to believe that the oldest person ever to have lived was a woman. Let p be the proposition that the oldest person ever to have lived was a woman. Let g be the proposition that the newspaper said that Jeanne Calment, a French woman, was the oldest person ever to have lived. Suppose just ye
