Reliabilism

Reliabilism is an epistemological theory that focuses on the reliability of the cognitive processes or methods by which beliefs are formed. It posits that a belief is justified or knowledge is acquired when it is produced by a reliable cognitive process or method that tends to produce true beliefs.

Process Reliabilism holds that a belief is justified if and only if it is produced by a belief-independent cognitive process that is de facto reliable in the actual world. It focuses on the objective, truth-linked properties of the process itself, not the believer's access to those properties. Process Reliabilism is a form of externalism. It suffers from the generality problem.

Normal Worlds Reliabilism holds that a belief is justified if it results from a process that is reliable in normal conditions. "Normal conditions" are those that are typical of our world, not necessarily the actual world. It attempts to ground reliability in a shared, intuitive notion of how the world usually works, avoiding problems posed by skeptical scenarios (e.g., a brain in a vat might have justified beliefs if its processes are reliable in the normal world it thinks it's in).

Virtue Reliabilism holds that justification is a belief's manifestation of the believer's intellectual virtues or cognitive abilities. A virtue is a stable and reliable disposition of a cognitive agent. It faces challenges with "epistemic luck" where a reliable faculty gets it right by accident in unusual circumstances.

Historical Reliabilism holds that justification of a belief depends on the historical process that actually produced it, not on what process could have been used or what the believer thinks produced it. It leads seemingly counterintuitive results. For example, a person in a world where a demon makes all perceptual beliefs false would have unjustified beliefs, even if their internal experience is identical to ours. Justification becomes world-dependent.

Agential Reliabilism holds that a belief is justified if it is produced by a cognitive ability that is integrated into the overall cognitive character of the agent and contributes to the agent's success in achieving epistemic goals (i.e., forming true beliefs) across a wide range of conditions. As such, it is a refinement of Virtue Reliabilism that emphasizes the integration of the reliable process into the agent's identity as a knower, helping to solve the generality problem by tying the process to the agent's stable traits

• Empiricism - What is more reliable than direct observation?
• Rationalism - The very fact we built computers and spaceships through mathematics, means that rational axioms are reliable.

• Evidentialism - Just an evidence isn't enough! Where are evidences about the evidence, and evidences about evidences about the evidence, and...

• Casualism - Chance aren't reliable process.
• Dogmatism - My opposite.
• Irrationalism - Emotions aren't reliable process.
• Intuitionism - Making something up while being high is not reliable process of knowledge.
• Fideism - Neither some ancient book about good and evil spirits is anything reliable.

• Reliabilism

• Alvin Goldman