I haven't clicked through to Kristof, but, isn't there even more trouble here because the administration backed off their claim? So, they didn't even have belief. It would have to be, "they were right and didn't even suspect it!"
On his old PBS show Buckley once used the word "epistemological" and one of his guests busted on him by asking him to define it. Buckley couldn't.
Take home lesson- don't use the word "epistemological"
But, as fucking Al pointed out on Yglesias's website, the Administration never had a justified belief that Saddam attempted to purchase uranium from Africa--their evidence was always known to be crap. It's not like they were good forgeries.
(Well, Al doesn't go all the way to the conclusion, because he thinks that the Butler report shows that the Administration could be relying on other British intelligence. There is substantial reason to think this isn't true. Still, no justified belief based on forgeries = no Gettier case.)
But it's so tantalizingly close! We don't get many Gettier cases in the hurly-burly of politics.
I really think it's important not to spread the impression that the Administration was justified in their beliefs. I also note, with some distress, that this is like the third time in a row that I've claimed that you got pwned by Al.
You can save the philosophical discussion by making it clear that the Administration claims, falsely, to have had the justified belief necessary to set up the Gettier case.
I can imagine the public debate about whether it was a Gettier case, though:
"Well, like, so they had the wrong reason to go to war. There still was a reason, right? So we weren't lied to, because there was a reason!"
(logic courtesy of the same folks who have managed to convince a good segment of the population that since Libby hasn't been charged with leaking information, that he can't be really charged with perjury (because how can you be charged with lying about something you didn't do!), and that it's only classified information anyway, not covert, and nothing like lying about Monica.)
So many degrees, Weiner, and yet you still get taken to school.
I could take him to school! He could be my exhibit on what happens if you study philosophy too closely ('Look, kids. You could end up thinking about evidence FOREVER!')
OK, in 11 the gloves are off. I'm working on a paper and wasting time online while they do it (and unshaved and unshowered). Got a problem with that?
'm working on a paper and wasting time online while they do it
One of those professors.
"Well, like, so they had the wrong reason to go to war. There still was a reason, right? So we weren't lied to, because there was a reason!"
Isn't that the official argument now? A justified false belief?
How come the defenders of the administration never take the logical next step and admit that under this theory their guys are idiots?
Because the education system suffers from a lack of rigorous logical training. This should be remedied, preferably by giving lots of tenure-track positions to young, eager philosophers.
I stumbled on one of the most mundane Gettier cases ever a few months ago. I called up my friend Carl and when he answered the phone I said "Hey, Carl." Little did I know that his brother who talks just like him was visiting, and easily could have been the one to pick up the phone.
I'm sure Labs has lots of positions for young, eager philosophers.