-' True belief with a logos' , a ' rational account' also known as a 'justified true belief'.
Plato's definition of knowledge is broken down into this concept; which consists of 3 points.
- there has to be a person to believe in something, let us say that this person believes in a table , then there has to be a justifiable reason for that person to believe that there is a table. This is known as the tripartite theory of knowledge.
Many questions can then arise from this theory, for example; what would be considered a 'justifiable reason' to believe in something? What some individuals view as justifiable could be completely different from what others could consider justifiable
For example, A justifiable reason for some to believe that there is a table, is that they can see it and touch it. for others, this reason would not suffice.
Just as Gettier presents in his short work, where he provides possible contradictions for this theory ; using the example of where somebody is so certain about something, they believe they are right and have reason to justify their beliefs, they can still end up wrong.
In the readings, it mentions a fourth condition to improve this theory. This fourth condition includes the concept of knowledge being 'indefeasible' which means that there should be no prior knowledge of anything else that might change somebodies perception of what they believe is happening.
So what is knowledge? How can we really define what knowledge is, when every persons beliefs and reality is different? Bringing in the concept that knowledge has to be indefeasible, wouldn't that mean that not person is knowledgeable since nobody really knows EVERYTHING?
The third rule for this theory is the most interesting in my opinion. What could be a justifiable reason to prove something is true and that we are knowledgeable of it? There will always be those who will doubt knowledge and truth. In Malcolm Norman's article he states that one can not always gather all their evidence to prove an idea, but to think otherwise would be absurd. Even this being true, that to think otherwise is absurd. You will still come across those who say it is not a table (i.e. Knowledge).
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