Chapter #2 (Theory of Knowledge)

Question 1

What is epistemology?

Answer 1

The study of knowledge

Question 2

What are the different types of knowledge?

Answer 2

Rationality, objectivity, universality

Question 3

What is Rationality?

Answer 3

The ability to present reasons and evidence in arguments.

Question 4

What is Objectivity?

Answer 4

In which a person is not influenced by personal feelings and looks at the big picture

Question 5

What is Universality?

Answer 5

Applying everywhere and always

Question 6

Method of Doubt

Answer 6

Accept nothing as true that
you don’t clearly recognize to
be so

Question 7

Method of Inquiry

Answer 7

A concept created by Rene Descartes: To adopt
a point of view of someone who does not know
anything, but is trying to use his/her intelligence to
discover the truth or learn –
posture of ignorance similar to socrates

Question 8

What is the cogito Argument/ergo sum?

Answer 8

“I think therefore I am”

Question 9

what is epistemological skepticism?

Answer 9

Descartes insisted upon absolute proof
or certainty before accepting anything as
true.

Question 10

State of solipsism

Answer 10

the belief that I am the the only person in the universe

Question 11

Who is Rene Descartes?

Answer 11

Created concepts such as method of inquiry & method of doubt, epistemological skepticism, and solipsism

Question 12

Who is Gottfried Leibniz?

Answer 12

He was most famous for his invention of infinite calculus and offered logical criteria for truth & certainty. We must ultimately rely on both to acquire knowledge.

Question 13

What is Gottfried Leibniz’s idea on rationalism?

Answer 13

He was a Rationalist who believed all knowledge can be accessed by rational reflection, but shortcomings in our rational abilities mean we must learn most things through experience. He also offered logical criteria for truth & certainty.

Question 14

What is the law of contradiction?

Answer 14

Logic dictates that both the assertion and the negation
cannot both be true

Question 15

What is the law of the excluded middle?

Answer 15

there can be no third option

Question 16

Who is David Hume?

Answer 16

He believed all of our ideas are either copies of sense impressions or combinations and rearrangements of copies of sense impressions. He created an atomic theory of the contents of the mind in which the mind contains little “indivisible atomic bits” of sensation plus indivisible copies of those bits of sensation.

Question 17

Where do perceptions come from?

Answer 17

Ideas and Impressions

Question 18

What is a simple perception?

Answer 18

That there is no real distinction between impressions and ideas

Question 19

What is a complex perception?

Answer 19

That there is a clear distinction between one’s impressions and ideas or there are distinct parts

Question 20

What is an impression?

Answer 20

Our senses, passions, and emotions

Question 21

What is an idea?

Answer 21

Thinking or reasoning

Question 22

What is the Tabula Rasa?

Answer 22

It was first thought of by John Locke stating that the mind is a blank tablet or Tabula Rasa when we are born which was developed further by David Hume later on.

Question 23

Who is John Locke?

Answer 23

John Locke believed that all human knowledge must come either directly or indirectly from the experience of the world that we acquire from our senses alone

Question 24

What is the unity of consciousness?

Answer 24

First developed by Immanuel Kant: All thoughts and perceptions of any given mind are bound together in a unity and are contained in one consciousness
The unity of individual consciousness is dependent upon the mind’s ability to hold together those thoughts and perceptions.

Question 25

What is Rationalism?

Answer 25

A way in which we can access truth and certainty through logical deduction – the truth is within us

Question 26

What is Empiricism?

Answer 26

A way in which all the ideas of the human mind must ultimately come to us through sensory experience

Question 27

Truths can be divided into 2 types

Answer 27

Truths of Reasoning & Truths of Fact (Gottfried Leibniz)

Question 28

What are the Truths of Reasoning?

Answer 28

consisted of necessary truths in which they cannot be contradicted - their opposite is impossible

Question 29

What are the truths of fact?

Answer 29

These are contingent truths – their opposite is possible –
denying it does not involve a contradiction in terms. These truths cannot be established by applying logical laws