ABSTRACT
Philosophers have traditionally regarded knowledge as a highly valuable epistemic state, perhaps even one of the great goods of life. At a minimum, it is thought to be more valuable than true belief Contemporary proposals on the nature of knowledge, however, make it difficult to understand why knowledge is good enough to have received so much attention in the history of philosophy. Some of the most common theories cannot even explain why knowledge is better than true belief. It is almost always taken for granted that knowledge is good, better than true belief simpliciter , but it is remarkably difficult to explain what it is about knowledge that makes it better. A reliable espresso maker is good because espresso is good. The good of the product makes the reliability of the source that produces it good, but the reliability of the source does not then give the product an additional boost of value.
