The Gettier Problem

Abstract

Thirty years ago this journal published the most influential paper of modern analytic epistemology Edmund Gettier's 'Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?' (ANALYSIS 23, 1963, pp. 121-23). In it Gettier refuted a classic theory of propositional knowledge by constructing thought experiments to test the theory. A cottage industry was born. Each response to Gettier was quickly met by a new Gettier-style case. In turn there would be a response to the case, a further Gettier scenario, and a reiteration of the process. The industry's output was staggering. Its literature became so complicated, its thought experiments so baroque, that commonsense was stretched beyond limit. The deep significance of Gettier's work drowned in the resulting cacophony. That significance can be seen by reflecting on two points: first, why the problem arises; and second, how it is to be solved.