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    Timothy Williamson's argument in 'Knowledge and Its Limit... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→The skeptical requirement that one rule out all alternatives entails the KK thesis

    Timothy Williamson's argument in 'Knowledge and Its Limits' demonstrates that KKφ fails for creatures with margin-of-error constraints, even under strong epistemic requirements.

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    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Creatures with margin-of-error constraints cannot know they know, since they cannot eliminate nearby error possibilities about their knowledge itself.
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    • 2.KKφ requires luminosity of knowledge, but luminosity is incompatible with the limited discriminatory capacities that margin-of-error constraints impose.
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    • 3.Williamson's anti-luminosity argument shows knowledge needn't be accessible to introspection, undermining KKφ for epistemically limited agents.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.KKφ failure doesn't require margin-of-error constraints; it follows from general fallibilism about introspective knowledge of knowledge states.
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    • 2.Williamson's argument targets luminosity generally, not specifically creatures with margin-of-error constraints, making the specificity claim unsupported.
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    • 3.Strong epistemic requirements might permit KKφ by redefining 'knowledge' to exclude margin-of-error cases, preserving the principle for remaining cases.
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    Key Terms

    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.

    Connections

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    Truth & Knowledge1 linkedSkepticism1 linked

    Related

    Creatures with margin-of-error constraints cannot know they know, since they can...KKφ failure doesn't require margin-of-error constraints; it follows from general...KKφ requires luminosity of knowledge, but luminosity is incompatible with the li...Strong epistemic requirements might permit KKφ by redefining 'knowledge' to excl...
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    The skeptical requirement that one rule out all alternatives entails the KK thes...Williamson's anti-luminosity argument shows knowledge needn't be accessible to i...

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit
    Williamson's argument targets luminosity generally, not specifically creatures w...