The KK thesis or KK principle (also known as epistemic transparency or ''positive

introspection Introspection is the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies on the observation of one's mental state, while in a spiritual context it may refer to the examination of one's s ...

'') is a

principle A principle may relate to a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of beliefs or behavior or a chain of reasoning. They provide a guide for behavior or evaluation. A principle can make values explicit, so t ...

epistemic logic Epistemic modal logic is a subfield of modal logic that is concerned with reasoning about knowledge. While epistemology has a long philosophical tradition dating back to Ancient Greece, epistemic logic is a much more recent development with appl ...

which states that "If you

know KNOW-FM (91.1 MHz) is the flagship radio station of Minnesota Public Radio's news and information network. It is licensed to Saint Paul and serves the Minneapolis-Saint Paul radio market. The station is non-commercial and listener-supported ...

that P is the case then you know that you know that P is the case." This means that one cannot know that P is, if one does not know whether one's knowledge of P is correct. Its application in science can be expressed in the way that it must not only justify its knowledge claims but it must also justify its method of justifying. The principle is also described as knowledge-reflexivity contention.

Principle

In formal notation, the principle can be stated as: "Kp→KKp" (literally: "Knowing p implies the knowing of knowing p"). It is said that the wide acceptance of the thesis steered many philosophers of science towards

skepticism Skepticism ( US) or scepticism ( UK) is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...

since the thesis features infinite regress and that to know is interpreted as "to know with certainty that one knows". The principle also holds that informational independence has epistemological consequences. An application of the principle may involve Hume's skepticism, which holds that it is not possible to know the induction hypothesis needed to determine the derivative knowledge that P from what is already known. This finally leads to the Humean skeptical conclusion if it is attained using KK hypothesis. An account goes as far as saying that the thesis is false due to these reasons since any argument that depends upon it is unsatisfactory. It is also said that the thesis had been disputed since the introduction of the epistemic logic by

Jaakko Hintikka Kaarlo Jaakko Juhani Hintikka (; ; 12 January 1929 – 12 August 2015) was a Finnish philosopher and logician. Hintikka is regarded as the founder of formal epistemic logic and of game semantics for logic. Life and career Hintikka was born in ...

in 1962. There are contemporary epistemologists who pointed out that skepticism can be rejected by rejecting the KK principle but to do so means one is also rejecting the idea of knowledge.

Acceptance

While major philosophers of the past (

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

, Shopenhauer) endorsed the principle, in the beginning of the 21st century the acceptance of the KK thesis widely varies between the epistemologists. Some reject it outright: Daniel Greco (who might be supporting the thesis) says that principle had "seen better days",

Louise Antony Louise M. Antony is an American philosopher who is professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She specializes in epistemology and feminist theory. Education and career Antony received a bachelor's in philosophy from Syrac ...

speaks of it as "roundly rejected". Most externalists also reject the thesis, but statements by internalists, while not explicitly declaring acceptance, contain supportive language.

Timothy Williamson Timothy Williamson (born 6 August 1955) is a British philosopher whose main research interests are in philosophical logic, philosophy of language, epistemology and metaphysics. He is the former Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of O ...

presented a "very influential" attack on the KK principle in 2000 in his book "Knowledge and its Limits".

History

The KK thesis has been associated with the notion of the infallibility of knowledge since ancient philosophers sometimes characterized the latter according to the former's terms.

's view on infallibility, for example, can be approached according to its framework, particularly concerning his position stated in '' Theatetus'' that truth can only be attained by infallibly knowing it.

, argued that the plausibility of the KK thesis turns upon the acceptance of a strong notion of knowledge and that it is also in part constitutive of that notion. He traced the thesis' earliest iteration in Plato's ''

Charmides Charmides (; ), son of Glaucon (who was the grandfather of Plato, and not to be confused with his brother of the same name), born circa 446 BC, was an Athenian statesman. Debra Nails''The People of Plato''(Indianapolis: Hackett, 2002), 90– ...

'' and the Book of ''Lambda'' of

's ''

Metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

''. He also cited examples drawn from other points of philosophical history, citing the works of

, Averoes,

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

, and

Baruch Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...

, among others. In response to the critique about the implausibility of the KK thesis, Hintikka stated that it is not an important point because what matters is that the principle is able "to capture a strong sense of knowledge". Modern formulations of the thesis sometimes include qualifications requiring, for example, "normal conditions for psychological self-knowledge".

Notes and references

Sources

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External links