Chapter 4 Flashcards
Epistemology
The study of knowledge
Knowledge
Justified true belief
Belief
Something someone claims is true
True
Pragmatism, coherence, correspondence, and subjectivism
Justification
Authority, rational, empirical, immediate sensory awareness
Authority
Trusting the expert
Criticism of authority
Authority could be wrong. The experts could disagree
A priori
Justification of the claim before the event
Rationality
The use of deductive logic to justify a claim
Criticism of rationality
There is no one universal starting point or premise.
Syllogism
Rational proof with a premise (2 propositions) and a concluding proposition
Analytical statements
A defining statement.
A posterior I
Justifications that are made after the event
Empiricism
The use of senses to justify a claim
Criticism of empiricism
The five senses depend on the mind
Skepticism
Need 100% truth before considering a claim justified
Immediate sensory awareness
An individual is an expert of their own sensing and intuition
Criticism of ISA
One must be completely aware of the ISA of another
What dies hardy suggest us needed before a statement should be deemed knowledge?
Justified true belief
Associated with reason?
A priori
Associated with experience?
A posteriori
What are the 2 kinds of propositions
- Analytic
2. Synthetic
What does rationalism claim that impinges on the realm of empiricism?
Morality, metaphysics, and the material world
Does the empiricist allow for some kind of a priori knowledge?
Yes
Moral
What is Descartes’s argument for the existence of God?
Trademark argument
Similar to ontological argument
What empirical philosopher denies we possess any a priori knowledge?
John Stewart mill
What kind of a priori knowledge does Hume seem to allow?
Knowledge concerning the relations between ideas
How has steward mill situated moral theory in observation and experience?
The only evidence we have for what is good is what we desire. The greatest desire is happened.
What is subjectivism?
Deals with the problem of moral knowledge
Defining it as knowledge only of our own mental states
How do empiricist so deny that moral claims are actually claims at all?
They suggest that moral claims are based on feelings or preferences, which are neither true or false, so there is nothing to know.
What two arguments might a theistic empiricist use to prove the existence of God?
Arguments from design
First cause argument (cosmological)
How does math challenge the empirical world with the idea of a priori concepts?
Math is a priori but empirically demonstrated through movements. Lock and Hume hand suggested mathematical knowledge is revealed trough definitions and is thus analytical
Who was the term agnosticism first used by?
Thomas Huxley
Who was the best known component of skepticism?
David Hume
Can skepticism be known under his system of belief?
No
Who is a major exponent of positivism?
August Comte
What are the levels of positivism?
Theological- things explained by spirits or gods
Metaphysical- things explained by abstract essences and substances
Positive level- things explained by observation and induction/scientific method
What are the objections to positivism?
Mental life is bigger than the sensations
Mind is inadequate
Sensations alone will not construct the world of science
Phenomenalism
Limited to objects of sense and experience
It is not possible to know the thing in itself
In the noumenal realm things do exist beyond experience
