In defense of the conditional probability solution to the swamping problem

Grazer Philosophische Studien 79 (1):93-114 (2009)
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Abstract

Knowledge is more valuable than mere true belief. Many authors contend, however, that reliabilism is incompatible with this item of common sense. If a belief is true, adding that it was reliably produced doesn't seem to make it more valuable. The value of reliability is swamped by the value of truth. In Goldman and Olsson (2009), two independent solutions to the problem were suggested. According to the conditional probability solution, reliabilist knowledge is more valuable in virtue of being a stronger indicator than mere true belief of future true belief. This article defends this solution against some objections.

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Erik J. Olsson
Lund University

Citations of this work

A Naturalistic Approach to the Generality Problem.Erik J. Olsson - 2016 - In Brian P. McLaughlin & Hilary Kornblith (eds.), Goldman and His Critics. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley. pp. 178–199.
In Defence of Swamping.Julien Dutant - 2013 - Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 2 (4):357-366.
The Value of Knowledge.Erik J. Olsson - 2011 - Philosophy Compass 6 (12):874-883.
Damming the Swamping Problem, Reliably.Jared Bates - 2013 - Dialectica 67 (1):103-116.

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References found in this work

Knowledge and its limits.Timothy Williamson - 2000 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Word and Object.Willard Van Orman Quine - 1960 - Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
Knowledge in a social world.Alvin I. Goldman - 1991 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Knowledge and Its Limits.Timothy Williamson - 2000 - Philosophy 76 (297):460-464.

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