Page 24 - DCAP310_INTRODUCTION_TO_ARTIFICIAL_INTELLIGENCE_AND_EXPERT_SYSTEMS

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence & Expert Systems

Notes “justified true belief.” However, no single agreed upon definition of knowledge exists, though
there are numerous theories to explain it.
The following quote from Bertrand Russell’s “Theory of Knowledge” illustrates the difficulty in
defining knowledge: “The question how knowledge should be defined is perhaps the most
important and difficult of the three with which we shall deal. This may seem surprising: at first
sight it might be thought that knowledge might be defined as belief which is in agreement with
the facts. The trouble is that no one knows what a belief is, no one knows what a fact is, and no
one knows what sort of agreement between them would make a belief true. Let us begin with
belief.” The definition of knowledge is a matter of ongoing debate among philosophers in the
field of epistemology. The classical definition, described but not ultimately endorsed by Plato
specifies that a statement must meet three criteria in order to be considered knowledge: it must
be justified, true, and believed. Some claim that these conditions are not sufficient, as Gettier
case examples allegedly demonstrate.

There are a number of alternatives proposed, including Robert Nozick’s arguments for a
requirement that knowledge ‘tracks the truth’ and Simon Blackburn’s additional requirement
that we do not want to say that those who meet any of these conditions ‘through a defect, flaw,
or failure’ have knowledge. Richard Kirkham suggests that our definition of knowledge requires
that the evidence for the belief necessitates its truth. In this unit, you will be able to understand
the concepts of knowledge progression and model, importance of knowledge, characteristics
and structure of Characteristics of KBS.

2.1 General Concepts of Knowledge

The theory of knowledge and creativity is an important department of philosophy. It arose
historically with philosophy, as its core, around which everything else was built. This department
of philosophy considers a wide range of problems: the relationship between knowledge and
reality, its sources and driving forces, its forms and levels, the principles and laws of cognitive
activity, and the trends of its development. Philosophy analyses the criteria of the authenticity
of knowledge, its veracity, and also the causes of error, the problems of the practical application
of knowledge.
As selective reflection of the world cognition expresses the highest creative aspirations of human
reason and constitutes the crown of human achievement. Throughout the millennia of its
development humanity has travelled a long road, from the primitive and limited to an
increasingly profound and comprehensive understanding of the essence of existence.

!
Caution This difficult path has led us to the discovery of innumerable facts, properties and
laws of nature, of social life and man himself, to the building of an extremely complex and
almost unencompassable scientific picture of the world, to the highly sophisticated sphere
of art, to the achievements of modern technology.
Humanity has always striven to acquire new knowledge. The process of mastering the secrets of
existence continues unceasingly and its vector is oriented on the infinite vistas of the future. The
pace and scale of cognitive activity are constantly increasing. Every day is marked by intellectual
advances in a constant quest, which ever more widely and vividly illuminates the remote
horizons of the as yet invisible. We are deluged with new discoveries.
The path travelled by science convinces us that the possibilities of human cognition are limitless.
Our reason perceives the laws of the universe in order to bring them under man’s control, in

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