Proposition Knowledge and JTN Theory of Propositional Knowledge - Essay Example

John is justified in believing that the one who will get the job has twenty bucks in his pocket, so it can be said that john is justified in believing the truth although he also has got twenty bucks in his pocket which he does not know of. Another example is, for instance just meeting a person is not enough. One should have knowledge about the person. One should have details about that person. This kind of knowledge is known as Personal knowledge. Procedural knowledge also involves some kind of propositional knowledge. For instance, if you have knowledge of how to operate a computer then obviously you will know that by pressing a specific key what function will the computer perform. The Justified True Belief (JTB) theory was given by the famous Greek Philosopher, Plato. Plato was a student of the great philosopher Socrates and was the teacher of Aristotle who was also a celebrated philosopher of his time. In Plato’s view, three elements, justification, truth, and belief combine to form the definition of propositional knowledge. Generally, when we speak of “belief” it may also mean that a person may have a feeling that something may prove to be useful or successful for him or her. However, that might not be the case. Maybe it is not useful or unsuccessful, but since the person believes so, he or she will continue believing it. This definition does not apply to this theory.

According to the theory, to have a belief in something actually means believing in any such content that is related to knowledge and understanding and is regarded as true. For instance, if according to my proposition and belief, the sky is blue, then I will continue believing it even when the sky will be red. The theory suggests that a person’s belief may or may not be true. You may believe something, but it does not necessarily mean that it will be true. Speaking of “truth” it can be said that a belief is not a fact. Suppose a girl believes that a wooden bridge is safe for her to cross it and it will support her weight easily. However, when she actually crosses it, the bridge fails to take her weight and breaks. In this case, the girl believed that the bridge she was crossing was safe, but it was not true. We cannot say that the girl “knew” that the bridge was safe; it can be taken only as an assumption because it is not fact. In his theory, Plato has explained that knowledge in other words is justified true belief. He has explained the term justification by saying that not only is it necessary that you believe that a proposition that is given to you is true but it is also obligatory that you must put forward a justification which should be a genuine enough reason why you believe it to be true. A belief cannot turn into a known fact if it lacks justification.

Let’s consider an example to understand the importance of justification in the JTB theory. Suppose there is a man who is severely ill and he firmly believes that even if does not take medical treatment, still he will recover from his illness, and luckily he gets well and recovers. Here we will not say that the man “knew” that he will become alright, he just hoped and believed so, and this optimistic attitude of his made him recover without treatment. Thus, the three elements or components namely, belief, truth, and justification are interdependent and interrelated. One cannot be imagined without the other.  This idea of Plato which he presented in the form of a theory, suggests that justified true belief is the real definition of knowledge that was acknowledged by the people of his time and was also accepted by them. The theory simply says that when you have a belief in something and you are certain that it is true; you must use a justification or verification to prove its validity.