This will be the first item in a three part series about the tracking theory of knowledge. I'll be talking about it in the form given it by Robert Nozick, in Philosophical Explanations (1981) though Nozick owed a considerable debt to Fred Dretske. According to Robert Nozick's tracking theory of knowledge, I know p (some proposition) if: 1) p is true 2) I believe p 3) If p were not true I would not believe it, and 4) if p were true I would believe it. The fourth point seems oddly worded, because of course the first point already said that p IS true for purposes of our further discussion, so why the hypothetical language by the time we move to the fourth? Well, the awkward language is necessary to resolve certain hypotheticals that bothered Nozick, and because combining (3) and (4) helps fix in our minds the underlying metaphor of tracking. One common example: a lottery ticket. I don't remember if Nozick himself invoked lottery tickets or if I encountered this...
