Subject: Re: [lojban] Random lojban questions/annoyances.

From: John Cowan <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2001 15:27:30 -0500 (EST)

Robin Lee Powell scripsit:

> And I would say that he _knew_ that, but he was worng, and hopefully now
> knows better. In fact, the phrase 'he knows better' is in contradiction
> with your point of view on knowledge.

Not at all.

Consider:

John says the earth is flat.
How absurd! He knows better than that.

entails that John knows (whatever he says) that the Earth is not flat, which
entails, indeed, that the Earth is not flat. Would you say "Aristotle
knew that the Earth was the center of the universe"? I would instead say
that Aristotle *believed* etc. but that we know it is not.

(It is not sufficient, for a belief to count as knowledge, that it be true,
but it is necessary.)

-- 
John Cowan [email-masked]
One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
--Douglas Hofstadter