Science & invention
Edmund Gettier
1927–2021 · philosopher
Philosopher whose three-page 1963 paper 'Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?', written while he taught at Wayne State in Detroit, created the famous Gettier problem.
- Born
Baltimore, Maryland- Died
aged 93- Birth name
- Edmund Lee Gettier III
- Detroit years
- 1957–1967
- Field
- Science & invention
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Gettier was born in Baltimore in 1927 and earned his doctorate in philosophy at Cornell University. From 1957 to 1967 he taught philosophy at Wayne State University in Detroit, rising from instructor to associate professor, in a department that also included Alvin Plantinga and Héctor-Neri Castañeda. It was during his Wayne State years that he published the paper that made him famous: 'Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?', three pages long, appeared in the journal Analysis in 1963. With two short counterexamples it showed that a person can hold a belief that is true and well justified and still not know it, overturning a definition of knowledge that went back to Plato and setting off decades of debate over what came to be called the Gettier problem. In 1967 he moved to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he taught until 2001, and he published almost nothing else.
Highlights
- 'Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?' (Analysis, 1963), three pages long
- Taught philosophy at Wayne State University, 1957–1967
- Colleague of Alvin Plantinga and Héctor-Neri Castañeda in Detroit
- Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1967–2001
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1957–1967
Wayne State University
He taught philosophy here for ten years and wrote his celebrated 1963 paper during that time.