Beliefs and Causes

Abstract

In this chapter I explore various objections to the claim that for a belief to count as knowledge it must have been caused in some way. First, in this section, I consider the claim that many beliefs are uncaused and yet they can still constitute knowledge. If beliefs can be uncaused and if such uncaused beliefs can be items of knowledge, then both the strong causal condition:

• (SC) S knows that p only if the fact that p is causally connected to S’s belief that p,

and the weaker causal condition:

• (WC) S knows that p only if S’s that p was caused in an ‘appropriate’ way.