Gettier Problems [Something Interesting #60]

Alex Bemish
Jun 10
2 min read

Along with classical music and professional cycling, philosophy is an area of knowledge I have only rudimentary awareness but still find fascinating while not really "getting" it. While thumbing through an old book I use to find interesting topics, one concept of philosophy struck me as something worth looking into a little more:

91. Gettier Problem (1963): Plato defined knowledge as justified true belief, and in a 1963 paper titled "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?", Edmund Gettier put forward two scenarios where justification, truth, and belief are met, but where you wouldn't think that the guy has knowledge due to the fact he seems to have just gotten lucky in his beliefs.

from the "100 Philosophical Ideas" chapter of 10,000 Things You Need to Know: The Big Book of Lists

So the description gave a brief glimpse into all this but there were some things it left out that should be noted:

The original paper is super short (2 1/2 pages).
The scenarios he posited are actually funny (especially Smith and his "ten coins equals job promotion" theory).
The whole premise is boiled down to "Justified true beliefs don't always equal knowledge since you could also easily luck yourself into those beliefs."
This idea kicked off a shitstorm that people still debate over 60 years later.

So here we have a legitimately funny and very quick philosophy paper that turned everything upside-down for those who study the properties of knowledge. While that's a bit of a simplification, it's also pretty close to what happened. It's everything else that followed that requires a little more explanation that I'm wildly unqualified to provide myself. (Luckily that's why I've also provided other resources below!)

If that doesn't inspire some deeper-dives, then that's on you. Otherwise have fun exploring the various other Gettier cases and refutations that have been popping up since 1963.