HON 1000 Constructing Knowledge

These are all definitions using the exact, or close-to-exact, wording from Dr. Daventry-Shea's fill-in notes.

belief

a mental state that has a proposition as its content — a propositional attitude — One believes that p if one thinks that p is true.

proposition

the meaning of a declarative sentence — analogous to statements or claims — anything that can be asserted or denied (i.e. has a truth value)

indexicals

words like “I”, “she”, “here”, and “now” which can express different propositions depending on the context

propositional knowledge

knowledge that can be contrasted with procedural knowledge (know-how) and acquaintance knowledge (knowledge of a person) — S knows that p.

S

variable that represents some specific subject, i.e., person

p

variable that represents some specific proposition

Traditional Analysis of Knowledge

S knows that p = (i) S believes that p; (ii) p is true; (iii) S is justified in believing that p.