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    昔者庄周梦为蝴蝶，栩栩然蝴蝶也。自喻适志与！不知周也。俄然觉，则蘧蘧然周也。不知周之梦为蝴蝶与？蝴蝶之梦为周与？周与蝴蝶则必有分矣。此之谓物化。
    - The 'Equivalence of Things' (齐物论) chapter of the Zhuangzi (庄子) (c. 3rd c. B.C.E.)



    Once upon a time I, Zhuang Zhou (庄周), dreamt I was a butterfly.
    Flapping my wings in true butterfly fashion, I was happy as could be, and I knew nothing of any person named Zhuang Zhou.
    But suddenly I awakened, astonished to be Zhuang Zhou.
    I still don't know whether as Zhuang Zhou I was dreaming I was a butterfly or whether as a butterfly I was dreaming I was Zhuang Zhou.
    There ought to be a difference between Zhuang Zhou and a butterfly, but this is called the transformation of things.
    - David K. Jordan translation (adapted)

     

     

     

     

    Knowledge as Justified True Belief
    Raphael's (1509-1511) Scuola di Atene (or The School of Athens)

    Epistêmê is the Greek word for 'knowledge'


    1. Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with the nature, origin, and scope of knowledge

    3. In Plato's Theaetetus (c. 369 B.C.E.), the standard definition of knowledge as justified true belief is considered

    Plato's (c. 369 B.C.E.) Theaetetus

    Plato

    Roderick Chisholm

    A. J. Ayer

    1. The central question in the Theaetetus is: What is knowledge?
    2. In the framing conversation in the Theaetetus, Eucleides and Terpsion hear a slave read out Eucleides' memoir of a philosophical exchange between the young Theaetetus and Socrates in 399 B.C.E. (shortly before the trial and execution of Socrates)

    4. Eucleides was a pupil of Socrates who was present at his death
    5. Terpsion was another pupil of Socrates who was present at his death
    6. Theaetetus was a disciple of Socrates and an Athenian mathematician who made important contributions to mathematics that Euclid eventually collected and systematized in his Elements


    1. According to the standard analysis of knowledge by Plato:
    2. Agent a knows that p iff:
    3. CONDITION 1: Agent a is justified in believing that p;
    4. CONDITION 2: p is true;
    5. CONDITION 3: Agent a believes that p


    1. Here is Roderick Chisholm's (1957) version of the standard analysis of knowledge:
    2. Agent a knows that p iff:
    3. CONDITION 1: Agent a has adequate evidence for p;
    4. CONDITION 2: p is true;
    5. CONDITION 3: Agent a accepts that p


    1. Last but not least, here is A. J. Ayer's (1976) version of the standard analysis of knowledge:
    2. Agent a knows that p iff:
    3. CONDITION 1: Agent a has a right to be sure that p;
    4. CONDITION 2: p is true;
    5. CONDITION 3: Agent a is sure that p


    These are all examples of the JTB (or knowledge as justified true belief) analysis of knowledge

     

     

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