3.1.3 Reason as a source of knowledge - 3 markers Flashcards
Define innatism (3)
Innatism is the notion contending that individuals possess some knowledge, which is already in the mind from birth, rather than gained from experience.
Define Rationalism (3)
Rationalism is the claim that there can be a priori knowledge of synthetic propositions about the world, that is innate and then developed through rational insight and reasoning.
Define empiricism (3)
Empiricism is the claim that all ideas a copies of impressions from the senses and all knowledge about the world is a posteriori not a priori. Empiricists such as Locke deny the existence of a prioir knowledge.
Define a priori knowledge (3)
A priori knowledge is the claim that some propositional knowledge that can be acquired independently of sense experience, Rationalists believe we can have some ‘synthetic a priori knowledge’ which includes innate knowledge, where we are born with some principles that does not need to be justified with experience, for instance math’s.
Define a posteriori knowledge (3)
A posteriori knowledge is the claim that all propositional knowledge is acquired through or after sense experience. Empiricists believe that all synthetic knowledge is a posteriori and deny that we possess any synthetic a priori knowledge or innate knowledge.
Define a simple concept (3)
A simple concept is a single, uniform conception with nothing distinguishable within it. Locke claims that all knowledge can be broken down into component parts of simple concepts, for instance, color, shape, and smell. which we can then use and manipulate into complex concepts.
Define a complex concept (3)
A complex concept is derived from multiple single concepts. For example, a ‘chair’ a complex concept, can be broken down into multiple single concepts such as “brown”, “hard”, and “wooden”.
Define a sensation (3)
Sensation refers to our experience of objects outside the mind, perceived through the senses, this gives ideas of ‘sensible qualities’. E.g. “redness”, “bitterness”.
Define a reflection (3)
Reflection refers to our experience of ‘internal operations of our minds’, gained through introspection or an awareness of what the mind is doing, for instance, feelings or wishes. This provides the ideas of perception, thinking, willing, and so on, which are let in by your senses but derived from what is happening inside your mind.
Define a necessary truth (3)
A necessary truth is one that cannot be imagined in any other way without logical contradiction. It must be true and couldn’t not be true. For instance, 2+2=4.
Define a contingent truth (3)
A contingent truth is one which could be imagined otherwise without logical contradiction. It happens to be true but could have been false. For instance, Joe Biden is the president of the USA.
Define an analytic truth (3)
Something that is analytically true, is if it is true just in virtue of the meaning of the words. For instance, ‘a bachelor is an unmarried man is analytically true, while ‘a square has three sides’ is analytically false.
Define a synthetic truth (3)
Define intuition (3)
Rational intuition is the faculty of immediately grasping a self-evident truth via the intellect. Intuitively, without needing sense experience we know we are thinking beings - “I think therefore I am”.
Define a deduction (3)
Deduction is the faculty of logically demonstrating a truth without justification from experience. The Pythagoras Theorem, an example of a priori knowledge, can be logically demonstrated to be true without the need to measure every right-angle triangle, to check that the theorem applies to it.
