Some notes in Reformed Epistemology. Helps to know these ahead of time before reading Plantinga. Parenthetical citations are from Plantinga’s Warrant and Proper Function.
Internalism in epistemology sees warrant as justification.
- justification is necessary for warrant.
- satisfaction of epistemic duty.
- Descartes: epistemic deontologism.
formation of belief; hence, internal
- involves a view of cognitive accessibility (36).
Warrant: Objections and Refinements
- Gettier: knowledge cannot be just justified, true belief. A fourth condition is necessary. Internalist accounts of warrant are fundamentally wanting, thus the continuing epicycles added to the Gettier problem (32).
- an externalist account of warrant would also take in the “epistemic credentials the proposition you believe has from the person whom you acquired it” (34).
- credulity is valid when it operates under certain conditions:
- Gettier’s problems show that even if internalism meets all of its conditions for knowledge, it can still fail to give knowledge. If my internal cognitive faculties are working, and they arrive at a belief, there are still a number of counters- (ala Gettier) that show it can’t reach knowledge (36-37). As Plantinga notes, “Justification is insufficient for warrant” (36).