Position
Reliabilism
A true belief is knowledge when it is produced by a cognitive process that reliably yields true rather than false beliefs.
Classification
- Position level
- specific
- Domains
- Epistemology
Overview
Reliabilism locates the difference between a lucky true belief and knowledge in the way the belief was formed. Perception, memory, or inference can produce knowledge when the relevant process is truth-conducive in the conditions where it operates, even if the believer cannot prove that the process is reliable.
The account's central task is to specify the relevant process and circumstances precisely enough to exclude accidental success without withholding knowledge from ordinary reliable cognition.
Position on
References
- Alvin I. Goldman, Epistemology and Cognition (Harvard University Press, 1986), Parts I–II
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, The Analysis of Knowledge, §6.1