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Ideas for 'Philosophical Explanations', 'The Rationality of Science' and 'Letters from a Stoic'

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2 ideas

13. Knowledge Criteria / C. External Justification / 4. Tracking the Facts

2748	A true belief isn't knowledge if it would be believed even if false. It should 'track the truth' [Nozick, by Dancy,J]
	Full Idea: Nozick says Gettier cases aren't knowledge because the proposition would be believed even if false. Proper justification must be more sensitive to the truth ("track the truth").
	From: report of Robert Nozick (Philosophical Explanations [1981], 3.1) by Jonathan Dancy - Intro to Contemporary Epistemology 3.1
	A reaction: This is a bad idea. I see a genuine tree in my garden and believe it is there, so I know it. That I might have believed it if I was in virtually reality, or observing a mirror, won't alter that.

13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 6. Relativism Critique

3857	Defeat relativism by emphasising truth and reference, not meaning [Newton-Smith]
	Full Idea: The challenge of incommensurability can be met once it is realised that in comparing theories the notions of truth and reference are more important than that of meaning.
	From: W.H. Newton-Smith (The Rationality of Science [1981], I.6)