Read each of these case descriptions. Each one illustrates a case where someone holds a particular belief (in italics). For all of them, state whether and why the holding of the belief does or does not represent a case of knowledge. Is there something that all the cases that are not knowledge have in common? If so, what is it?

1. Sleepy Lisa wakes up from an afternoon nap on her living room sofa. Upon waking up she hears the soft tapping and dripping of water behind the curtains against her sliding glass backdoor. She recalls that the weather report predicted rain today. She believes that it is raining outside. But in fact, it is not raining outside. Lisa's neighbor's sprinkler system is spraying water against her porch.

 

2. Log Cabin Jerry lives in a cabin in the mountains of Vermont. Outside the front door of his cabin he has some chimes that alert him to the blowing of the wind. When he hears the chimes he forms the belief that the wind is blowing outside. One day, while on one his daily nature walks, Jerry is struck by a wayward burst of cosmic radiation. This radiation will induce periodic and random chiming sounds in his head for about two months, and this chiming sound is indistinguishable from his cabin chimes. Later that evening, the chiming is induced by the portion of his brain affected by the radiation. Jerry straightway believes that the wind is blowing outside. However, the wind is blowing outside and the cabin wind chimes are chiming.
3. Dr. Sudduth decides to check on his account at his credit union. He accesses his account on-line December 3^rd. His account information states that his next monthly automobile loan payment is due February 1^st, not January 1^st. His credit union has always been reliable in the past. Moreover, the credit union has for the past two years allowed its patrons to skip monthly payments on the credit union master card for the month of January as a Christmas gift. Dr. Sudduth concludes that the credit union is in similar fashion permitting him to skip payment on his auto loan for January of the upcoming new year. It turns out that, in preparation for the upcoming year, the credit union was in fact updating and modifying all accounts at the time Dr. Sudduth logged on to his account. This procedure requires temporarily moving back one month all credit union payment due dates. However, in late November the credit union had mailed Dr. Sudduth a statement indicating that he was permitted to skip payment on his auto loan for the month of January. The letter remained unopened on his living room table.
4. Willy remembers that he has forgotten to feed his black cat Salem. Hungry Salem usually leaves the yard in search of food when he is not fed promptly. In haste Willy grabs some cat food and heads for the door. Upon going into his front yard, he sees a furry black animal sitting in the yard about 30 feet away and he hears a meow. He forms the belief Salem is in the yard. However, although Salem is in the yard, napping in the shade, the object Willy sees is a skunk and the meow is the neighbor's cat Billy that has wandered into Willy's yard.
5. Maribeth tells Dawson that she will be home this evening, so he can come over and watch a movie with her. Dawson plans on stopping by and seeing his friend Jeff first. While at Jeff's, Jeff's friend Ken stops by. Dawson knows that Ken is in love with Maribeth and is worried that Ken will make his move first, but Ken has no idea about Dawson's feelings for Maribeth, though he knows that they are good friends. When Ken inquires of Dawson as to whether Maribeth is home this evening, Dawson intends to deceive him. Dawson says, "she's not home tonight." Ken believes Dawson that Maribeth is not home. However, at the last minute Maribeth had to leave home to visit her sick grandmother and will not return until the next day.
6. Smith comes into Jones’ office and announces that he just purchased a new Ford. He presents significant evidence in support of this claim to Jones: presents a bill of sale and even takes Jones for a ride. So Jones believes that Smith owns a new Ford. Jones then infers from this the disjunction, either Smith owns a new Ford or Brown is in Barcelona (even though Jones has no information about the whereabouts of his friend Brown). Smith, however, has lied about the new Ford, but Brown happens to be in Barcelona.
7. Joshua knows that his neighbor's car is not in their garage. He also knows that if the neighbor's car is not in the garage, then his neighbor's are not home. Thus, he believes, on the basis of these reasons that his neighbors are not home. And in fact, his neighbors are not home.
8. Professor Presley is informed by the registrar's office that 14 out of 15 of the students in his religious epistemology class are philosophy majors. A colleague then informs him that Kirsten Evans is in his religious epistemology class. Professor Presley takes the word of his colleague and believes that Kirsten Evans is a philosophy major, and in fact she is a philosophy major.
9. Karen is walking by Farmer John's field. She sees what appears to be a sheep and forms the belief that there is a sheep in the field. Farmer John then immediately shows up and tells her that there is no sheep in the field, but that he has a dog that looks just like a sheep from a distance. Karen has no reason to believe that Farmer John is lying to her, but she continues to believe that there is a sheep in the field. In fact, Farmer John does own a dog, and he is not trying to deceive her at all about the sheep. But it turns out that he is incorrect about the matter, as there actually is a sheep in the field and the sheep is what Karen was looking at.
10. Joshua believes that his neighbors' car is not in their carport. He knows that when their car is not in the carport, then they are not home. So he believes that his neighbors are not home. His wife Aletheia and her friend Jane come home from their weekly gym workout, and they tell Joshua that the neighbors have purchased a new, expensive sports car that is sitting in their carport. Joshua, however, though he knows that his wife is reliable, is obstinate and refuses to admit that he is mistaken about anything, so he keeps believing that his neighbors' car is not in their carport and that his neighbors are not home. It turns out that Aletheia and Jane were both telling him what they thought was true, but in fact the car they saw belonged to someone other than their neighbors, a man visiting the apartment complex who could not find the visitors parking spots. And in fact the neighbors are not home.
11. Joshua believes that his neighbors' car is not in their carport. He knows that when their car is not in the carport, then they are not home. So he believes that his neighbors are not home. His wife Aletheia and her friend Jane come home from their weekly gym workout, and they tell Joshua that the neighbors have purchased a new, expensive sports car that is sitting in their carport. Joshua, however, though he knows his wife is usually reliable, also knows that neighbors recently declared bankruptcy, and so could not afford an expensive new car, so he keeps believing that his neighbors' car is not in their carport and that his neighbors are not home. It turns out that Aletheia and Jane were both telling him what they thought was true, but in fact the car they saw belonged to someone other than their neighbors, a man visiting the apartment complex who could not find the visitors parking spots. And the neighbors are not home. And in fact.
12. Some people in a Wisconsin town erect about 40 fake barn facades in preparation for a movie to be filmed in their town. Carl is driving through this town and sees what is in fact a real barn and forms the belief that there is a barn along side of the road. However, though he is looking at a real barn, all the rest he is surrounded by are fake barns, but he has no knowledge about the other barns being fake.
13. During summer break, Peter sees a man steal a book from the library. He is quite sure that the man is Tom Grabit. Tom and Peter go to college together and were roommates in their freshman year. Peter believes that Tom Grabit stole the book from the library. Later that day, he and his friend Kramer visit Tom Grabit's mother. During the visit, Tom Grabit's mother testifies that Tom is in a different country, but that he has a twin brother who is a kleptomaniac and likes hanging out at libraries. But while Tom Grabit's mother makes this testimony, Peter happened to slip out of the room to use the toilet. So Peter doesn't hear what she says. It turns out, though, that she is a pathological liar and Tom is the one who was in the library and stole the book.