The Irreflexivity of Knowledge

Abstract

It is possible to fashion concepts of knowledge such that one has knowledge only if one knows that one has knowledge, at least given that the doxastic requirements of second-order knowledge are satisfied. this point holds both for a highly demanding concept of knowledge which has second-order certainty intentionally written into it and for weak concepts of knowledge which settle for a degree of probability less than 1.0. but there is no knowledge in the highly demanding sense, since there is no second-order certainty. consequently, if knowledge is deliberately conceived in a way which requires the certainty of what is known, knowledge is irreflexive in the sense that one never knows that one has knowledge.