Active learning ideas
The Tripartite View of Knowledge is a cornerstone of the AQA Epistemology module, establishing the traditional definition of propositional knowledge as Justified True Belief (JTB). Students explore the three conditions (truth, belief, and justification) and evaluate whether they are individually necessary and jointly sufficient. This topic introduces the rigorous analytical style required for Year 12 Philosophy, moving beyond personal opinion toward formal logical definitions.
Activity 01
In pairs, students act out the famous Gettier scenario involving the ten coins and the job promotion. One student plays the 'knower' while the other identifies exactly where the justification and truth come apart, despite the belief being correct.
What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for knowledge?
Activity 02
Small groups are assigned a potential fix for JTB, such as 'No False Lemmas' or 'Infallibilism'. They must create a poster explaining their fix and then rotate to find a flaw in another group's proposed solution.
Does a justified true belief guarantee knowledge?
Activity 03
Students brainstorm non-philosophical examples of necessary and sufficient conditions (e.g., having four sides for a square). They then apply this logic to the JTB conditions to see if any can be removed without losing the definition of knowledge.
How do Gettier cases undermine the tripartite view?
A few notes on teaching this unit
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Students often believe that 'justification' must mean 'absolute proof'.
In the tripartite view, justification refers to having good reasons or evidence, not necessarily being 100% certain. Peer discussion helps students see that we often have justified beliefs that turn out to be false, which is the basis of the Gettier problem.
Students think Gettier cases prove that truth is not necessary for knowledge.
Gettier cases actually rely on the belief being true; they show that truth and justification can coincide by luck. Using active modeling helps students track how the 'truth' element is satisfied by accident rather than by the justification provided.
Methods used in this brief
Perception as a Source of Knowledge
An exploration of direct and indirect realism. Students will analyse arguments from illusion, hallucination, and perceptual variation.
8 methodologies
Berkeley's Idealism
Students investigate George Berkeley's claim that 'to be is to be perceived'. They will critique the rejection of mind-independent material objects.
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Reason as a Source of Knowledge
A comparison of rationalist and empiricist approaches to innate knowledge. Students will evaluate Descartes' intuition and deduction thesis.
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