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Silverman

      Summary

      What is the nature of knowledge? This chapter examines the science fiction narrative of Battlestar Galactica to address puzzles and problems in epistemology. For example, knowledge has traditionally been defined as a true justified belief. However, this definition actually accepts accidentally true justified beliefs as knowledge. In Battlestar Galactica we see an excellent example of such a belief. Captain Adama claims he is searching for Earth, but he does not even believe it exists. Anyone who believes in Earth's existence based on Adama's testimony would have an accidentally true justified belief. Can such a belief be knowledge?

      Battlestar Galactica begins with the ravaging of the known world. The survivors are demoralized, vastly outnumbered by the enemy, and homeless. Against this backdrop Commander Adama offers the promise of a new home where they'll be safe from the Cylons: Earth. But he lies. Yet, in a surprising twist of fate – though not to us who live here – it's later revealed that Adama told a “true lie.” Earth does exist and the Colonials' search for it isn't in vain. Undertaking the journey to this “mythical” home of the Thirteenth Tribe is momentous and filled with religious significance for the Colonial survivors. Faith in Earth's existence gives meaning to an otherwise hopeless situation and shapes the choices they make along the way.

      A common view claims that knowledge is true belief accompanied by a convincing account justifying the belief. As Plato explains in the Theaetetus:

      According to Plato, it's possible to attain truth without knowledge. Knowledge is more certain than mere true belief since the knower possesses a compelling justification for the belief's truthfulness. Someone holding a true belief based on a rumor or a lucky guess doesn't have knowledge because s/he doesn't have a reason for confidence in the belief.

      1 The woman in front of me is my wife, Athena.If Helo's justified in believing (a), knows his wife's name, and understands basic rules of reasoning, then he's also justified in believing:

      2 The woman in front of me is named “Sharon.”

      The truthfulness of (a) logically entails the truthfulness of (b).But let's suppose Helo's mistaken, for it's actually an identical robotic copy of Athena, Boomer who's in front of him – having infiltrated Galactica for some nefarious purpose. But Boomer is also named “Sharon.” Helo's belief (b) turns out to be true, but his justification for believing (b), belief (a), is false. Gettier claims that a counterexample like this shows a justified true belief that isn't knowledge since its justification is false. And this has become known as “the Gettier problem.”

      Beliefs based on Adama's true lie about Earth are similar to Helo's true belief based on a false justification. Starbuck believes:

      1 Adama knows the location of Earth.

      This belief obviously implies:

      1 Earth exists.

      It's arguable that Adama's public testimony that he knows the location of Earth, as well as his private assurances to Starbuck in “Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 1,” would be a proper justification for belief (c). It's reasonable to believe, as Adama claims, that he has access to privileged classified information as a “senior commander” in the Colonial fleet. Hence, Starbuck is justified in believing that Earth exists based on his testimony despite the fact that she doesn't realize that he is lying to her.

      One interesting aspect of reliabilism is that it doesn't require a person to know s/he's using a reliable process to be justified in their beliefs. If a young non‐philosopher forms their beliefs based on the five senses, s/he's justified in those beliefs even if s/he never reflects upon the reliability of the senses. This has the desirable consequence of classifying many beliefs held by children, animals, and epistemically unreflective persons as justified.

      Memory is another less dependable belief‐forming process. Boomer can't remember that she sabotaged Galactica's water tanks (“Water”) and, until her Cylon nature is revealed to her, her memories thoroughly convince her that she's human, her parents are Katherine and Abraham Valerii, and her family died on Troy. Yet these beliefs couldn't be further from the truth. She doesn't give up these beliefs until confronted by numerous copies of herself aboard a Cylon baseship, and even then her initial reaction is disbelief (“Kobol's Last Gleaming,

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