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    If knowledge is context-sensitive in Dretske's sense, the... — Carmelics
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    Supports→If the sensitivity requirement were accepted as a condition on knowledge, the closure principle would fail, undermining the first premise of the CP-style argument for Cartesian Skepticism

    If knowledge is context-sensitive in Dretske's sense, then knowing 'I have hands' does not transmit via closure to knowing 'I am not a BIV', since BIV scenarios are irrelevant alternatives in ordinary contexts.

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    Key Terms

    BIV (Brain in a Vat)(Used as the basis of a skeptical hypothesis challenging knowledge of the external world.)
    A hypothetical scenario in which a person's brain is removed from their body and kept alive in a vat of nutrients, with its neural connections fed simulated experiences by a computer, such that the person cannot distinguish this scenario from ordinary reality.
    Dretske
    Fred Dretske is an American philosopher known for his work on knowledge, perception, and information theory. He developed influential ideas about how we gain knowledge through our senses and what it means to truly "know" something, arguing that knowledge requires being appropriately connected to the facts in the world. His work has significantly shaped modern debates about consciousness, mental content, and how our minds represent reality.
    closure (epistemic closure)(The epistemological principle under challenge in the passage)
    The principle that if one knows a set of premises and knows that those premises entail a conclusion, one is positioned to know that conclusion
    context-sensitive

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    (Used to describe terms like 'I' and 'left' whose reference shifts with the context of use.)
    A term whose semantic value or referent varies depending on features of the context of utterance, such as the identity or orientation of the speaker.
    irrelevant alternatives(epistemology)
    Possible situations that are so unlikely or unrealistic that they don't actually matter when deciding whether you know something in ordinary life.
    knowledge(Distinguished from mere true belief, which may be the product of indoctrination and need not exercise deliberative capacities.)
    Justified true belief — true belief that has been arrived at through the exercise of deliberative capacities, including comparison of and deliberation among alternatives.

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    If the sensitivity requirement were accepted as a condition on knowledge, the cl...

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