This document discusses justification and how it relates to knowledge. It provides four ways of justifying knowledge: language, perception, reason, and emotion. It also discusses what distinguishes a good justification from a bad one, noting that reliability is the key factor. Finally, it outlines what type of justification may be required for different subject areas.

1. Justification
By: Melanie and Toto

2. What is justification?
• Call to authority to help support your belief
• Seems that you trust your ‘knowledge’ if justified
• K=JTB
– Where justification helps the level of certainty of
one’s belief.
{Example of Court of Law}

3. How do we justify our knowledge?
We can justify our knowledge through the four ways of
knowing:
1. Language – told by other sources
– Second hand sources
2. Perception – being able to experience it yourself
– People have different perceptions of the world
3. Reason – using past experiences
– ‘a priori’
4. Emotion- using your instinct and ‘ gut’ feelings

4. What distinguishes a good justification
from a bad one?
• Acceptable vs. unacceptable
– Reliability is the key factor that distinguishes justification
from being acceptable from unacceptable justification.
• If it seems that the knowledge that is presented to you
is ‘out of the ball park’ then you may feel an emotional
attachment to it but that isn’t as credible as perception
and reason.
– Level of acceptance depends on the certainty of your
belief
– Depends on the context of the situation. Have to make a
judgment about when doubt is appropriate and not
appropriate.

5. What justification is required in a
given context/ subject area?
• Emotion
– Debate, History (can be biased according to your
affiliations with either side of the claim).
• Language
– Social studies classes (History, Psychology, English)
• Perception
– Physics
• Reason
– Math