Jiro comments on On Terminal Goals and Virtue Ethics - Less Wrong

67 Post author: Swimmer963 18 June 2014 04:00AM

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Comment author: drnickbone 18 June 2014 04:34:51PM 3 points [-]

Note that this also messes up counterfactual accounts of knowledge as in "A is true and I believe A; but if A were not true then I would not believe A". (If I were not insane, then I would not believe I am Nero, so I would not believe I am insane.)

We likely need some notion of "reliability" or "reliable processes" in an account of knowledge, like "A is true and I believe A and my belief in A arises through a reliable process". Believing things through insanity is not a reliable process.

Gettier problems arise because processes that are usually reliable can become unreliable in some (rare) circumstances, but still (by even rarer chance) get the right answers.

Comment author: Jiro 18 June 2014 07:54:27PM *  3 points [-]

The insanity example is not original to me (although I can't seem to Google it up right now). Using reliable processes isn't original, either, and if that actually worked, the Gettier Problem wouldn't be a problem.