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person1960s-1970s

Edmund Gettier

Disciplines:
epistemology

Summary

American philosopher whose single short paper refuted the justified true belief analysis of knowledge dominant since Plato.

Core Contribution

The Gettier problem: counterexamples showing that justified true belief is insufficient for knowledge — one can have a true justified belief through epistemic luck — triggering decades of epistemological revision.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Produced only one published paper of consequence but it generated more philosophical responses than almost any other article in the 20th century.
  • The paper is only three pages long and was submitted almost as an afterthought to avoid a tenure denial — yet it fundamentally altered epistemology.

Notable Works & Achievements

Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?

Historical Influences

Bertrand Russell Roderick Chisholm

Intellectual Lineage

Analytic Philosophy Anglo-American Epistemology

Contemporaries & Peers

Roderick Chisholm Alvin Goldman

Minds Influenced

Alvin Goldman Ernest Sosa Timothy Williamson

Intellectual Posterity

Gettier Problem Epistemic LuckReliabilism Virtue Epistemology

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