Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T12:16:00.064Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 3 - Difficulty and Knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2020

Christoph Kelp
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow
John Greco
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Get access

Summary

Some things are more difficult to know than others. For example, proving the Poincaré conjecture is certainly more difficult than coming to know what does 2 + 2 equal. However, as obvious as it seems, explaining that knowledge can be difficult in familiar epistemological terms (e.g., in evidentialist or simple reliabilist terms) is less straightforward than one could initially think. The aim of the chapter is to show that virtue reliabilism (unlike virtue responsibilism) provides a promising framework for accounting for the relationship between difficulty and knowledge. However, it argues that virtue reliabilism first needs to get rid of the problematic assumption that cognitive abilities are reliable dispositions to form true beliefs in appropriate conditions. The reason is that this idea not only prevents the theory from explaining how knowledge relates to difficulty, but also renders its main tenet – the thesis that knowledge requires the manifestation of cognitive ability in appropriate conditions – false. To amend this problem, the chapter connects the virtue reliabilist framework with recent work on the notions of achievement and difficulty. It then advances a positive proposal: the view that knowledge is a special kind of challenge with varying degrees of difficulty.

Type
Chapter
Information
Virtue Theoretic Epistemology
New Methods and Approaches
, pp. 58 - 92
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alfano, M. 2015. Character as Moral Fiction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Baehr, J. S. 2011. The Inquiring Mind: On Intellectual Virtues and Virtue Epistemology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Baláš, J., Panáčková, M., Jandová, S., Martin, A. J., Strejcová, B., Vomáčko, L., and Draper, N. 2014. “The Effect of Climbing Ability and Slope Inclination on Vertical Foot Loading Using a Novel Force Sensor Instrumentation System,” Journal of Human Kinetics 44: 7581.Google Scholar
Bradford, G. 2015. Achievement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Broncano-Berrocal, F. 2017. “A Robust Enough Virtue Epistemology,” Synthese 194(6): 2147–2174.Google Scholar
Broncano-Berrocal, F. 2018. “Purifying Impure Virtue Epistemology,” Philosophical Studies 175(2): 385410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broncano-Berrocal, F. forthcoming. “Epistemic Dependence and Cognitive Ability,” Synthese.Google Scholar
Carter, J. A. 2014. “Robust Virtue Epistemology as Anti-Luck Epistemology: A New Solution,” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly. doi:10.1111/papq.12040.Google Scholar
Carter, J. A., Kallestrup, J., Palermos, S. O., and Pritchard, D. 2014. “Varieties of Externalism,” Philosophical Issues 24: 63109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chi, M. T. H., Feltovich, P. J., and Glaser, R. 1981. “Categorization and Representation of Physics Problems by Experts and Novices,” Cognitive Science 5: 121152CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chrisman, M. forthcoming. “Epistemic Normativity and Cognitive Agency,” Noûs.Google Scholar
Greco, J. 2009. “Knowledge and Success from Ability,” Philosophical Studies 142: 1726.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greco, J. 2010. Achieving Knowledge. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Greco, J. 2012. “A (Different) Virtue Epistemology,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 85: 126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guerrero, A. 2017. “Intellectual Difficulty and Moral Responsibility,” in Wieland, J. W. and Robichaud, P. (eds), Responsibility: The Epistemic Condition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jarvis, B. 2013. “Knowledge, Cognitive Achievement, and Environmental Luck,” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 94: 529551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelp, C. 2013. “Knowledge: The Safe-Apt View,” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 91: 265278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olin, L. and Doris, J. M. 2014. “Vicious Minds,” Philosophical Studies 168: 665692.Google Scholar
Pritchard, D. 2012. “Anti-Luck Virtue Epistemology,” Journal of Philosophy 109: 247279.Google Scholar
Pritchard, D. Haddock, A., and Millar, A. 2010. The Nature and Value of Knowledge: Three Investigations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sosa, E. 2007. A Virtue Epistemology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sosa, E. 2010. “How Competence Matters in Epistemology,” Philosophical Perspectives 24: 465475.Google Scholar
Sosa, E. 2015. Judgment and Agency. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sosa, E. 2017. “Virtue Theory Against Situationism,” in Alfano, M. and Fairweather, A. (eds), Epistemic Situationism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Turri, J. 2011. “Manifest Failure: The Gettier Problem Solved,” Philosophers’ Imprint 11: 111.Google Scholar
Turri, J. 2017. “Epistemic Situationism and Cognitive Ability,” in Alfano, M. and Fairweather, A. (eds), Epistemic Situationism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
von Kriegstein, H. 2017. “Effort and Achievement,” Utilitas 29: 2751.Google Scholar
von Kriegstein, H. 2019. “On Being Difficult: Towards an Account of the Nature of Difficulty,” Philosophical Studies 176(1): 4564.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×