Epistemology

Get students to list the kinds of knowledge (see text, p.8).

* Go over definitions of "knows whether" and "knows when" from text, p. 7. Review rules about what is required for a good definition.

* Show that "knows x" can not be defined in terms of propositional knowledge.

* Show that "knows how" (in one sense) cannot be defined in terms of propositional knowledge.

* Conclusion: Propositional knowledge is of fundamental importance, and many kinds of knowledge claims can be defined in terms of it. But "knows" is also used to describe acquaintance and ability. These cannot be defined in terms of propositional knowledge. Our focus will be propositional knowledge.

II. Knowledge and True Belief

* Knowledge is not strong conviction. It requires truth.

* But true belief is not enough. Lucky guesses are not knowledge. See Ayer, p. 440, first paragraph. Two examples - superstition, off-setting errors.

* Important to be sensitive to the difference between when something is false and when it is odd to say it. This explains away some seemingly problematic cases. See text, p. 13.

III. The TAK

* Justification: justification comes in degrees, justification does not imply belief, it is "relative" in the sense that it can vary from case to case. Ayer uses the phrase "right to be sure" for this. What's his point, on the bottom of p. 442, about it being a mistake to build a complete description in the definition? And what's his point in the paragraph before this?

* Belief: "doxastic" alternatives, propositions (not sentences) are the objects of belief. Note: Ayer says that you must