Justified true belief, a common epistemological concept, is the idea that a belief counts as knowledge if it is justified by evidence and is actually true. Depending on what is meant by justified, there might be no problem at all with this epistemology. In practice, however, this idea is sometimes heralded as confirmation that absolute certainty is not necessary for knowledge, as appropriate "justification" is sufficient. According to this inherently irrational position one does not actually have to know something in order to know it! It is amusing to me that those who subscribe to the this understanding of "justified true belief" often have quite conflicting standards for what exactly constitutes justification.
How much evidence means something is "known" (known besides the fact that there is evidence)? This is because other than absolute certainty [1] there is no such thing as a non-arbitrary, objective point past which a belief is known to be true, though there is a multitude of conflicting lines past which various people might feel subjectively persuaded. But persuasion is not proof, and belief is not knowledge. Knowledge is awareness that something is true. I cannot be aware that something is true simply because there is evidence for that thing, since mere evidence does not amount to proof of anything except that the evidence exists.
It is impossible for one to know something short of having absolute certainty about the issue in question. Although some people, including many Christian apologists--who are often just irrational sophists, whether or not they know it--will pretend like absolute certainty is not a requirement for knowledge, without absolute certainty one cannot know something, because having absolute certainty is the only way to know that something cannot possibly be false! And if a belief can be false, then the conclusion is not known to be true, meaning the belief by its very nature cannot qualify as actual knowledge. This is extremely simple.
But I cannot prove that I have existed longer than several moments at most, or that other minds exist, or that I am not a brain in a vat. What is the solution? It is devilishly simple: revise beliefs until they can be proven with perfect logicality. "That waterfall is beautiful" becomes "I think that waterfall is beautiful according to my subjective perceptions." "Jesus rose from the dead" becomes "There is significant evidence that Jesus rose from the dead, although I cannot prove this." "The sun will rise tomorrow" becomes "It seems that the sun will rise tomorrow because it has before and I have no reason to suspect it will not." I could continue to provide examples, yet I have already established my point.
One does not need absolute certainty that something is true to have absolute certainty that something is or seems to be probable, and, though anything short of absolute certainty can never justify belief in something itself, absolute certainty is not required to have a basis for committing to act as if something is true--not because it is known or because belief is justified, but because there is evidence for it. This is a key distinction that many apologists gloss over entirely, preferring to argue for the utter impossibility of faith being epistemically warranted [2].
Sometimes it is admittedly difficult to articulate the nuances of these truths to other people, yet it is something I have become fairly adept at doing (partly thanks to blogging, which necessitates that I be as clear, specific, and concise as I can be for the sake of effectiveness). Yet logic cannot be false and these truths are what logic illuminates about probability, evidence, knowledge, and belief.
[1]. See here:
A. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/12/metaphysics-and-absolute-certainty.html
B. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/02/not-everything-can-be-illusion.html
C. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-impossibility-of-total-skepticism.html
[2]. See here:
A. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-object-and-method-of-faith.html
B. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-impossibility-of-faith-in-reason.html
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