THE CASE OF PATIENT SMITH: PAIN-BELIEF, EPISTEMIC LUCK, AND ACQUAINTANCE (pages 223-228)

Elliott R. CROZAT

ABSTRACT: Can a pain-belief such as “I feel pain” be fallibly justified and luckily true? In this discussion note, I provide a Gettier-type example to show that a belief about one’s own pain can be held on fallible justification and a matter of epistemic luck for its believer. This example underscores the significance of introspection and direct awareness in such epistemic situations. Moreover, perhaps surprisingly, the example suggests that one can, at the same time and with regard to the same body part, though in different respects, both know and not know ‘I feel pain.’ The knowledge is possessed in terms of acquaintance; the lack of knowledge is explainable in terms of non-introspective justification.

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