The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Well-being by Fletcher Guy

Author:Fletcher, Guy
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781317402640
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published: 2015-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Knowledge

Knowledge is a genus of which there are several species. The most famous is propositional knowledge (e.g., knowledge that the cat is on the mat), but there are others that are equally important, including explanatory understanding (e.g., understanding why the cat is on the mat).9 Even mere true belief (e.g., that the cat is on the mat) can be understood as a species of knowledge.10 Knowledge, in the present sense, is accurate representation.11 Representations can be accurate (correct, right, true, veridical) or inaccurate (incorrect, wrong, mistaken, erroneous, false); knowledge is instantiated when a representation is accurate.

For our purposes here we need not worry too much about the boundaries of the concept of accurate representation. Consider the kind of acquaintance that is afforded by perception, the kind of interpersonal knowledge that exists between friends who know each other well, and the kind of practical knowledge that we attribute to those who know (or understand) how to do something. Are these species of accurate representation? We can set this question aside. Later on we’ll consider an important species of practical knowledge and an important species of interpersonal knowledge.

Does knowledge have eudaimonic value? Recall the several ambiguities in this question, that I discussed in the previous section. However, two disambiguated claims seem plausible. First, knowledge sometimes causally contributes both to the well-being of the possessor and to the well-being of other individuals.12 You know that a bus is bearing down on you, so you jump out of the way; you know that a bus is bearing down on someone else, so you pull her to safety. Moreover, you might think that knowledge sometimes causally contributes to well-being in more important ways. Perhaps there are especially useful principles, knowledge of which significantly affects how you think, feel, and act, and thus affects your well-being or the well-being of others.13 Second, knowledge sometimes makes a constitutive contribution to the well-being of the possessor. Charles Darwin endeavored for many years to understand the origin of species, and as a result of his efforts, he came to understand the origin of species. This understanding was a part of the goodness of his life. You might think, for example, that well-being consists in the incorporation of a plurality of intrinsically valuable things into a harmonious and integrated life.14 Many philosophers claim that knowledge is intrinsically valuable,15 and therefore, on the present view, one of those things that might be incorporated into a life of well-being. In any event, knowledge plausibly has both agent-relative and agent-neutral instrumental eudaimonic value, as well as agent-relative constitutive eudaimonic value. This latter view, in particular, is popular among virtue ethicists and virtue epistemologists.16

Recall, again, the ambiguity of the claim that x contributes to y. I just claimed that it is plausible that knowledge sometimes contributes to well-being. Can we defend a more ambitious disambiguation of the claim that knowledge contributes to well-being?

Does knowledge always contribute to well-being? Imagine that a villain threatens to kill me and everyone I care about unless I remain ignorant of how many jellybeans there are in a jar.

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