Blackwell Reference Online

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E pistemology, ethics, philosophy of science Whatever is provided as grounds to prove or defend one's claim or conduct. If a principle or a position is deduced from relevant premises, it is said to be justifiably inferred. To seek justification for a statement or action is the fundamental characteristic of a rational being, although there is controversy over what counts as reliable justification. Justification is especially required in epistemology and science in order to meet the challenge of skepticism . Epistemological justification has two senses. One is called objective justification and is concerned with what we should believe given what is in fact true, and is thus identified with truth . The other is the subjective sense, which is to determine what we should or should not believe given what we actually do believe, regardless of whether or not it is objectively correct. The latter is the ordinary sense of the term. It requires that we specify the norms under which we may hold a belief . To determine what to believe is a fundamental problem for epistemology, and justification is a necessary condition for knowledge . For a long time, historically, philosophers agreed that knowledge is justified true belief. But this analysis has been challenged by E. Gettier in his famous Gettier's problem. “Justification, on most views, aims at producing something else: rational ... log in or subscribe to read full text