Single Idea 19552

[catalogued under 13. Knowledge Criteria / A. Justification Problems / 2. Justification Challenges / c. Knowledge closure]

Full Idea

Maybe one cannot know the logical consequences of the proposition that one knows, on account of the fact that small risks add up to big risks.

Gist of Idea

We wouldn't know the logical implications of our knowledge if small risks added up to big risks

Source

John Hawthorne (The Case for Closure [2005], 1)

Book Reference

'Contemporary Debates in Epistemology (2nd ed)', ed/tr. Steup/Turri/Sosa [Wiley Blackwell 2014], p.42


A Reaction

The idea of closure is that the new knowledge has the certainty of logic, and each step is accepted. An array of receding propositions can lose reliability, but that shouldn't apply to logic implications. Assuming monotonic logic, of course.