Part IV: Epistemology

Chapter 12

Study questions for Is Knowledge Valuable?

  1. What does it mean to say that something has instrumental value? Explain your answer by offering two examples of your own of something that is instrumentally valuable.
  2. Is true belief always instrumentally valuable? Evaluate the arguments for and against this claim, paying attention to such issues as the fact that sometimes false beliefs can be useful (as in the case of the person trying to jump a ravine), and that true beliefs can sometimes be entirely trivial (as in the case of the person who measures grains of sand).
  3. Is knowledge of greater instrumental value than mere true belief, insofar as the latter is indeed generally instrumentally valuable? Consider some cases in which one person has a mere true belief while someone else in a relevantly similar situation has knowledge. Is it true to say that the latter person’s knowledge is of more instrumental value than the former person’s mere true belief?
  4. What does it mean to say that something has non-instrumental value? Explain your answer by offering two examples of your own of things that are non-instrumentally valuable, and in each case give a brief explanation of why you think they are non-instrumentally valuable.
  5. Is knowledge ever non-instrumentally valuable? Evaluate this question by considering some plausible candidates for non-instrumentally valuable knowledge, such as the knowledge possessed by the wise person.

Multiple Choice Questions

Weblinks for Is knowledge valuable?

Chappell, Tim (2009). ‘Plato on Knowledge in the Theaetetus’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/entries/plato-theaetetus/. [An excellent overview of Plato’s view of knowledge, as expressed in his book, the Theaetetus.]

Kraut, Richard (2011). ‘Plato’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/entries/plato/. [A very good overview of the life and works of Plato.]

Perseus Archive (Tufts University), http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/. [This is a fairly comprehensive archive of ancient Greek and Roman texts, including the works of Plato.]

Pritchard, Duncan and Turri, John (2012). ‘The Value of Knowledge’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/knowledge-value/. [A very up-to-date and thorough overview of the debate regarding the value of knowledge.]

Schroeder, Mark (2012). ‘Value Theory’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/value-theory/. [A comprehensive and completely up-to-date survey of the main philosophical issues as regards value.]

Zimmerman, Michael (2010). ‘Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Value’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/value-intrinsic-extrinsic/. [A great survey of the literature on intrinsic (e.g. non-instrumental) and non-intrinsic (e.g. instrumental) value.]

Introductory further reading for Is knowledge valuable?

Annas, Julia (2003). Plato: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. [This is a succinct and very readable introduction to Plato’s philosophy.]

Greco, John (2010). ‘Epistemic Value’. In The Routledge Companion to Epistemology, eds S. Bernecker and D. H. Pritchard, chapter 21. Routledge. [An accessible and completely up-to-date survey of the main issues as regards epistemic value.]

Advanced further reading for Is knowledge valuable?

Kvanvig, Jonathan (2003). The Value of Knowledge and Pursuit of Understanding. Cambridge University Press. [A very influential contemporary discussion of the value of knowledge.]

Pritchard, Duncan, Millar, Alanand Haddock, Adrian (2010). The Nature and Value of Knowledge: Three Investigations.Oxford University Press. [The most up-to-date contribution to the debate about the value of knowledge. Note that it is quite demanding.]

Zagzebski, Linda (1996). Virtues of the Mind: An Inquiry into the Nature of Virtue and the Ethical Foundations of Knowledge. Cambridge University Press. [A clear, challenging and historically orientated account of knowledge which pays particular attention to the issue of the value of knowledge, including those types of knowledge, like wisdom, that might plausibly be regarded as non-instrumentally valuable.]