Method
Justification (epistemology)
Overview
Justification (also called epistemic justification) is a property of beliefs that fulfill certain norms about what a person should believe. Epistemologists often identify justification as a component of knowledge distinguishing it from mere true opinion. They study the reasons why someone holds a belief. Epistemologists are concerned with various features of belief, which include the ideas of warrant (a proper justification for holding a belief), knowledge, rationality, and probability, among others.
Debates surrounding epistemic justification often involve the structure of justification, including whether there are foundational justified beliefs or whether mere coherence is sufficient for a system of beliefs to qualify as justified. Another major subject of debate is the sources of justification, which might include perceptual experience (the evidence of the senses), reason, and authoritative testimony, among others.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Justification (epistemology) is discussed.
And St. Paul, (Heb. vi. 1), calleth works without faith, _dead works_, where he saith, _Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works_. And by these dead works, is understood not the obedience and justice of the inward man, but the _opus operatum_, or external action, proceeding from fear of punishment, or from vain-glory, and desire to be honoured of men: and these may be separated from faith, and…
Thomas Hobbes, The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 04
states what it is; names the idea; opens on it
It is not from works that we are set free by the faith of Christ, but from the belief in works, that is from foolishly presuming to seek justification through works. Faith redeems our consciences, makes them upright, and preserves them, since by it we recognise the truth that justification does not depend on our works, although good works neither can nor ought to be absent, just as we cannot exist without food and…
Martin Luther, Concerning Christian Liberty
states what it is; names the idea; opens on it
We have enough arguments right here to conclude that justification is by faith alone. How can the Law effect our justification, when Paul so plainly states that we must be dead to the Law if we want to live unto God? If we are dead to the Law and the Law is dead to us, how can it possibly contribute anything to our justification? There is nothing left for us but to be justified by faith alone. This nineteenth verse…
Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians
states what it is; names the idea; opens on it
* * * * * CHAP. LXXX.--177. PETILIANUS said: "But I answer you, on the other hand, that Jesus Christ never persecuted any one. And when the apostles found fault with certain parties, and suggested that He should have recourse to persecution (He Himself having come to create faith by inviting men to Him, rather than by compelling them), those apostles say, 'Many lay on hands in Thy name, and are not with us:' but…
of Hippo Augustine, Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy
names the idea; opens on it
The legitimacy of this appeal is admitted whenever it is allowed that our judgments ought to be conformable to fact. To say that belief suffices for its own justification is making opinion the test of opinion; it is denying the existence of any outward standard, the conformity of an opinion to which constitutes its truth. We call one mode of forming opinions right and another wrong, because the one does, and the…
John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive
states what it is; names the idea
Philosophers who discussed Justification (epistemology)
- Stephen Toulmin
- Hans Reichenbach
- Karl Popper
- Keith Lehrer
- Jaegwon Kim
- Robert Nozick
- Roderick Chisholm
- Robert Audi
- Alvin Plantinga
- Hans Albert
- Michael Williams (philosopher)
- God and Other Minds
- Peter D. Klein
- Jean-Michel Berthelot
Related ideas
- Belief
- Reformed epistemology
- Foundationalism
- Pyrrho
- Internalism and externalism
- Philosophical skepticism
- Probability
- Knowledge
- Gettier problem
- Perception
- Reliabilism
- Coherentism
- Fallibilism
- Susan Haack
- Critical rationalism
- Reason
- Theaetetus (dialogue)
- Evidentialism
- Meno
- Rationality
- Definitions of knowledge
- Testimony
- Alvin Plantinga
- Epistemology
Place in the tradition
Part of Analytic philosophy.
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