Final answer:
Contextualism implies that the context influences whether knowledge is attributed to an agent, even if the agent appears irrational. The requirements for justification vary depending on the stakes and purposes involved.
Step-by-step explanation:
Context dependence indicates that the conditions of a particular situation play a crucial role in the concept of knowledge. In some contexts, agents who are being irrational may still be considered as having knowledge. This idea is rooted in the contextualism theory in epistemology, which posits that the truth of knowledge attributions depends significantly on the context in which they are made.
For example, while a physician is expected to provide a high level of justification for a diagnosis, a person recalling the title of a movie is not held to the same standard. The underlying principle is that the stakes and purposes of the belief alter how much justification is needed for it to qualify as knowledge. Thus, even if agents may not always be rational, the context in which they are placed can lead to the attribution of knowledge to them under certain conditions.