Knowledge is/isn't more valuable than mere true belief.
First a definition of knowledge. Knowledge, defined by Plato is
a justified true belief. A justified true belief is something that is
true, justified, and believed (
source).
An example of a justified true belief given here from Wikipedia:
... a subject S knows that a proposition P is true if and only if:
P is true
S believes that P is true, and
S is justified in believing that P is true
(
source)
However, the term knowledge can be defined even more narrowly. Here in lies the Gettier Problem, which basically states that one may hold a justified true belief, in which there is a belief is true and the proposition is true, but the justification for believing the proposition is true is faulty (
source).
Therefore one may hold a justified true belief, but this justified true belief does not count as knowledge. (This type of falsely justified true belief may be considered a mere true belief).
Suppose I think that my friend will be late to work today because I knew he was out late last night. I find out today that my friend was indeed late for work. I now hold a justified true belief. My friend was late (P is true), I believed my friend would be late (S believes that P is true), and I had a justification for believing that my friend would be late (I believed he would be late because he was out late last night). However, my justification is faulty, my friend was actually late to work, not because he was out late the night before, but because he was stuck in traffic on the commute to work. I have a justified true belief, but it is not knowledge due to my faulty justification.
Therefore the definition for knowledge can be defined as:
a proposition that is true, believed by a person, and is correctly justified.
A mere true belief occurs when a person has no justification for believing a proposition or the justification is false.
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Knowledge is/isn't more valuable than mere true belief.
I state that:
Knowledge is not more valuable than a mere true belief.First, I hold that there is a temporal order in the process of obtaining knowledge that holds true for almost all cases.
Second, I hold that knowledge must be handed down as mere true beliefs. Those who learn a piece of knowledge learn it as a mere true belief first. The learners must themselves form and verify their own justifications in order to have knowledge, as a true justification is a required criterion for knowledge.
This is how I propose the temporal order of knowledge acquisition:
1.) Subject S must be aware of a proposition P.
2.) Subject S must believe in proposition P. (This step may occur after 3, 4, or 5 depending on when subject S decides to hold the belief)
3.) Subject S must form a justification for belief in proposition P.
4.) Subject S must test or verify the formed justification for belief in proposition P.
5.) If the formed justification for belief in proposition P holds true after verification or testing and subject S still believes in proposition P then subject S now has obtained knowledge (knowledge P).
Take, for example, Isaac Newton who developed the laws of universal gravitation. For this example it can be said that no one else, ever living at any point up to Newton, had been able to prove the laws of universal gravitation. Before Newton was able to justify and test the justification for the laws of universal gravitation, he must have first had to have had a belief in universal gravitation. Also, because Newton was correct about the laws of universal gravitation, Newton held a mere true belief about the laws of universal gravitation before he held knowledge about them.
Another example could be a student being lectured in a science classroom. The student at hand will readily believe anything the teacher tells them when the teacher is lecturing about the subject material.
The teacher writes the equation for Dalton's law of partial pressures on the board, but does not explain why the equation hold true. The student now has a mere true belief in Dalton's law of partial pressures, but not knowledge. It is not until later into the lecture, when the teacher explains why Dalton's law of partial pressures holds true (or gives the criteria for when they hold true) and the student tests Dalton's law of partial pressures (perhaps with equations or during a lab) that the student holds knowledge of Dalton's law of partial pressures. (As this is the point at which the student now has a correct justification for holding the belief in Dalton's law of partial pressures).
Therefore, mere true beliefs are valuable as they bring forth knowledge. Mere true beliefs are a required stepping stone on the path to knowledge.
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Again, knowledge is not more valuable than a mere true belief for the reason that knowledge is not as time efficient as mere true belief.
Knowledge requires a correct justification whilst mere true belief does not, therefore a mere true belief is more time efficient than knowledge.
For instance, person B holds a mere true belief that water is a healthy drink. This person B has no justification for drinking water to stay healthy. Person B has only been told that water is healthy.
In order for Person B to have a correct justification of water being healthy for one to drink, person B would have to learn about human biological systems and test the effects of drinking water and the human body in order to have a correct justification and knowledge that drinking water is healthy. It seems that it would be more time efficient for person B to keep the mere true belief instead of questing for the knowledge.
A person has a mere true belief that his car is safe to drive to work. If this person stops to form a correct justification for this mere true belief they will be late for work. It is better to just hold the mere true belief than to go to be late to work with the knowledge of a safe car.
Another example, person B is told that not clocking out for lunch, at work, is a bad idea. Person B believes this, although person B is unaware that those who do not clock out for lunch will eventually get caught and reprimanded or fired (as punch in and punch out times are closely monitored). Thus, person B holds a mere true belief as he has no justification. Now person B could test not clocking out for lunch himself to form a correct justification for believing that not clocking out for work is a bad idea, but this would lead to negative consequences. Person B could ask around the office about not clocking out for lunch to form a correct justification, but this could look suspicious. Person B could also do research about the company policy online to form a correct justification. This may not have a negative consequence, yet it still takes time.
Knowledge is not more valuable than a mere true belief because knowledge is not time efficient.
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Lastly, a mere true belief must be true. A mere true belief must be true as this is integral to the definition and criteria for what actually is a mere true belief. The following can also be said, if a mere true belief were false, it would simply just be a belief.
The assignment at hand does contain "if knowledge is more valuable than belief", but contains "if knowledge is more valuable than a mere true belief". For this reason, given the current set of circumstances for the assignment
(
Knowledge is/isn't more valuable than mere true belief), I can safely assume that for any example or hypothesis I give here, the hypothetical person's involved will hold a mere true believe that is correctly true. This should reinforce that a mere true belief is more time efficient to have than knowledge. The final arrival at the mere true belief will be equally correct as the the final arrival at knowledge, although the means for arriving at the belief are faulty.
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In conclusion, this my stance, knowledge is not more valuable than a mere true belief. Mere true beliefs bring forth knowledge, thus making mere true beliefs at least equally as valuable as knowledge. The final product of a mere true belief is as correct as the final product of knowledge. Also, mere true beliefs are less time consuming in acquiring than knowledge, thus
making mere true beliefs valuable in that they are time efficient. Knowledge is not more valuable than a mere true belief.
