Knowledge, Modal Robustness, and Mathematical Platonism

The intuition that knowledge requires the satisfaction of some sort of anti-luck condition is widely shared. I examine the claim that modal robustness is sufficient for satisfying this condition: for a true belief to be non-luckily true, it is sufficient that this belief is safe and sensitive. I argue that this claim is false by arguing that, at least when it comes to beliefs in necessary truths, satisfying the anti-luck condition requires satisfying a non-modal condition. I also advance a plausible candidate for this condition and argue for the implausibility of mathematical Platonism on this basis.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
Universität Zürich, ZORA
Published
2025-03-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-282803
Primary Topic
Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Knowledge, Modal Robustness, and Mathematical Platonism

Benoit Gaultier
Universität Zürich, ZORA
Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
article

Knowledge, Modal Robustness, and Mathematical Platonism

Benoit Gaultier
article en

Abstract

The intuition that knowledge requires the satisfaction of some sort of anti-luck condition is widely shared. I examine the claim that modal robustness is sufficient for satisfying this condition: for a true belief to be non-luckily true, it is sufficient that this belief is safe and sensitive. I argue that this claim is false by arguing that, at least when it comes to beliefs in necessary truths, satisfying the anti-luck condition requires satisfying a non-modal condition. I also advance a plausible candidate for this condition and argue for the implausibility of mathematical Platonism on this basis.

Universität Zürich, ZORA
Reduced inequalities
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
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