Before Gettier, knowledge was thought to be a belief that was both true and justified. However, Gettier claimed that genuine knowledge is more than that. He developed the “Gettier example” to prove this point. In these examples, he showed that a justified, true belief may be based off a falsehood. Gettier argued that “knowledge” based off a falsehood is not knowledge at all
To further understand the Gettier example, imagine a well-mannered, good looking young girl. This girl’s name was Angie. Despite her prim exterior, she was a cold-hearted criminal. Angie told her new friend, Jeff, that she that was nominated for the “Volunteer of the Year” award. Although Angie was lying to Jeff about the award, a week later Angie received the Award in the mail. A typing error was made at the post office and Angie coincidentally received the award. When asked, Jeff would say that Angie won the volunteering award. This belief would be justified because Jeff thinks Angie is trustworthy due to her soft exterior. This belief is also true because Angie did receive the award. However, this knowledge is based off a falsehood- Angie only received the award by accident.
As you can see in this example, Gettier proved that knowledge is more than a belief which is justified and true- it requires something more. Knowledge is a value-laden concept therefore accidental knowledge cannot be considered genuine knowledge, according to Gettier. However, philosopher are still stumped as to which criteria genuine knowledge must meet.