Gettier Problem - History

History

The problem Gettier raised was also raised by Bertrand Russell in The Problems of Philosophy. Russell provides an answer of his own to the problem. Edmund Gettier's formulation of the problem was important as it coincided with the rise of the sort of philosophical naturalism promoted by W.V.O. Quine and others, and was used as a justification for a shift towards externalist theories of justification. John L. Pollock and Joseph Cruz have stated that the Gettier problem has "fundamentally altered the character of contemporary epistemology" and has become "a central problem of epistemology since it poses a clear barrier to analyzing knowledge".

Alvin Plantinga rejects the historical analysis:

According to the inherited lore of the epistemological tribe, the JTB account enjoyed the states of epistemological orthodoxy until 1963, when it was shattered by Edmund Gettier... Of course there is an interesting historical irony here: it isn't easy to find many really explicit statements of a JTB analysis of knowledge prior to Gettier. It is almost as if a distinguished critic created a tradition in the very act of destroying it.

Despite this, Plantinga does accept that some philosophers before Gettier have advanced a justified true belief account of knowledge, specifically C.I. Lewis and A.J. Ayer.