more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
Accuracy of response to stimulus does not alone show knowledge, but must be reinforced by appropriateness, i.e. suitability of realising one's purpose.
Gist of Idea
Knowledge needs more than a sensitive response; the response must also be appropriate
Source
Bertrand Russell (The Analysis of Mind [1921], p.261), quoted by Michael Potter - The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 66 'Rel'
Book Ref
Potter,Michael: 'The Rise of Anaytic Philosophy 1879-1930' [Routledge 2020], p.430
A Reaction
The aim of 'realising one's purpose' puts a very pragmatist spin on this. The point is a good one, and seems to apply particularly to Nozick's accurate 'tracking' account of knowledge.
Related Idea
Idea 22325 A belief is knowledge if it is true, certain and obtained by a reliable process [Ramsey]
| 22326 | Knowledge needs more than a sensitive response; the response must also be appropriate [Russell] |
| 4259 | External reliability is not enough, if the internal state of the believer is known to be irrational [Bonjour] |
| 2866 | A true belief might be based on a generally reliable process that failed on this occasion [Blackburn] |
| 8890 | If the reliable facts producing a belief are unknown to me, my belief is not rational or responsible [Bonjour] |
| 3565 | Sometimes I ought to distrust sources which are actually reliable [Williams,M] |
| 2737 | 'Reliable' is a very imprecise term, and may even mean 'justified' [Audi,R] |
| 9162 | Believing nothing, or only logical truths, is very reliable, but we want a lot more than that [Field,H] |
| 20187 | Epistemic perfection for reliabilism is a truth-producing machine [Zagzebski] |
| 19522 | More than actual reliability is needed, since I may mistakenly doubt what is reliable [Conee] |
| 19521 | If pure guesses were reliable, reliabilists would have to endorse them [Conee] |
| 19523 | Reliabilism is poor on reflective judgements about hypothetical cases [Conee] |
| 22327 | Knowledge from a drunken schoolteacher is from a reliable and unreliable process [Potter] |
| 19725 | In a sceptical scenario belief formation is unreliable, so no beliefs at all are justified? [Comesaņa] |
| 19726 | How do we decide which exact process is the one that needs to be reliable? [Comesaņa] |
| 19570 | Reliabilism cannot assess the justification for propositions we don't believe [Kvanvig] |