Philosophy 1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Belief
16 May 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Belief and Knowledge – Philosophy 1020
Prichard
1. Knowing is “absolutely different” from believing.
Its not the case that knowledge is a certain kind or subset of belief
They are fundamentally different things
Beliefs may be true or false, but knowledge is neither true nor false.
oTo say that you believe is to leave open the possibility that it may be true or
false, but to say you know something is not subject to this falsity
oIf you start with belief, you will never get to knowledge, because they are not
2. “[W]hen we know something we either do, or by reflecting, can know that our condition
is one of knowing that thing, while when believe something, we either do or can know
that our condition is one of believing and not of knowing.”
There is a difference between knowing something and believing something, and we are
aware of this difference
Has in common with Descartes is the question of whether we know something with
certainty is something we can access internally the answer to that question
If you know something, you know that you know it
If you believe something, you know that there are things that lead you to believe it
Example, knowing that a noise is loud versus believing that the noise is due to a car.
Malcolm.
Pritchard’s 2 is false.
Consider cases 1 – 5, pp. 58-59.
Ascending cases of certainty about water in a stream, but then the final case proves that
they were wrong throughout reasons 1-4
1. “Whether we should say that you knew [something], depends in part on whether you
had grounds for your assertion and on the strength of those grounds.”
As we ascend the scale, the evidence provided becomes more conclusive
2. Reflection cannot always distinguish between cases in which one knows something and
cases in which one does not.
Claim 2 and 5 are the same, except the fundamental difference is that in case 5, it is
proven that there is no water in the stream
It follows from the second point that:
1. Knowing that p is a species of believing that p.
To say that you know that p is true is to say that you believe it plus you are asserting
something else as well
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Document Summary
Prichard: knowing is absolutely different from believing. Its not the case that knowledge is a certain kind or subset of belief. There is a difference between knowing something and believing something, and we are aware of this difference. Has in common with descartes is the question of whether we know something with certainty is something we can access internally the answer to that question. If you believe something, you know that there are things that lead you to believe it. Example, knowing that a noise is loud versus believing that the noise is due to a car. As we ascend the scale, the evidence provided becomes more conclusive: reflection cannot always distinguish between cases in which one knows something and cases in which one does not. Claim 2 and 5 are the same, except the fundamental difference is that in case 5, it is proven that there is no water in the stream.
