An Inquiry Into Gettier's Problem And Solutions

The Gettier Problem is the problem seeking for a correct analysis of knowledge, nowadays it is the main focus of the contemporary epistemology. And this problem is well known in the British and American epistemology circles. Analysis of knowledge is the cardinal logic in western philosophical circles from Plato's .The classical definition of knowledge is"Justified true belief".this definition includes three elements: justified, true and belief.But the classical definition was challenged by"Gettier problems"in 1963.Edmund L. Gettier, an American philosopher raised two counter-examples in his paper, and these examples proved that a justified true belief did not necessarily constitute knowledge.There was a strong response about Gettier's two counter-examples in the British and American philosophical circles, and the classical definition of knowledge was challenged by Gettier problems. It involves the western philosophers'view on the nature of knowledge. By and by, there were many different solutions raised by philosophizers. Although the solutions were not perfect, it kept prosperous during the late part of 20th century. The development of the Gettier problem has shown that the correct analysis of knowledge ultimately depends on the correct analysis of subject's justification. Around the Gettier problem there has formed two schools: Internalism and Externalism.This paper makes comments on and analyses of the discussions on the history of the Gettier problem, solutions of the problems, Internalism and Externalism. Some shortages and advantages of the solutions and schools are investigated in the paper. While the author demonstrates these shortages and advantages, he describes the modifications for these from some philosophers. After that, the author raised a new solution in Contextualism circle.