more on this theme | more from this thinker
Full Idea
A characteristic case in which a belief is justified though the cognizer doesn't know that it's justified is where the original evidence for the belief has long since been forgotten.
Gist of Idea
A belief can be justified when the person has forgotten the evidence for it
Source
Alvin I. Goldman (What is Justified Belief? [1976], II)
Book Ref
'Epistemology - An Anthology', ed/tr. Sosa,E. /Kim,J. [Blackwell 2000], p.348
A Reaction
This is a central problem for any very literal version of internalism. The fully rationalist view (to which I incline) will be that the cognizer must make a balanced assessment of whether they once had the evidence. Were my teachers any good?
| 8830 | A belief can be justified when the person has forgotten the evidence for it [Goldman] |
| 8829 | Justification depends on the reliability of its cause, where reliable processes tend to produce truth [Goldman] |
| 8831 | Introspection is really retrospection; my pain is justified by a brief causal history [Goldman] |
| 8832 | If justified beliefs are well-formed beliefs, then animals and young children have them [Goldman] |