Single Idea 6871

[catalogued under 13. Knowledge Criteria / A. Justification Problems / 3. Internal or External / a. Pro-internalism]

Full Idea

Strong internalism says only current conscious states can justify beliefs, but this has the problem of Stored Beliefs, that most of our beliefs are stored in memory, and one's conscious state includes nothing that justifies them.

Gist of Idea

We can't only believe things if we are currently conscious of their justification - there are too many

Source

Alvin I. Goldman (Internalism Exposed [1999], §2)

Book Reference

Goldman,Alvin I.: 'Pathways to Knowledge' [OUP 2002], p.8


A Reaction

This point seems obviously correct, but one could still have a 'fairly strong' version, which required that you could always call into consciousness the justificiation for any belief that you happened to remember.