Concept Empiricism Flashcards
1
Q
What do empiricists believe
A
- They believe that the ultimate source of knowledge is experience
- Empiricists argue that we are born knowing nothing or that we are born with a blank state (tabula rasa)
- They claim that all we known comes to us through our five senses
- All our thought must ultimately relate to things we have seen
2
Q
Explain sensory experience
A
- What we are consciously sensing at any given moment in time
- For example, I am aware of the tea that I am drinking
- This is because I can sense it’s taste and see it
- However I am also able to think about tea when I am not sensing it
- This ability is important as we would only ever be conscious of what we are sensing at a present moment without it
- If we could not conceive of the concept of tea outside of experience then we could not hold any beliefs about it
- For example, its taste or knowing how to create it
3
Q
Explain concept formation
A
- Concept formation is crucial to knowing about the world
- Understanding its mechanism is central to any theory of knowledge
- However I am able to imagine fantasy creatures such as unicorns or dragons which I have never experienced with my senses
4
Q
Hume’s view on concepts
A
- These concepts can be described as complex ideas which can all be broken down into simple ideas
- For example the concept of gold and the concept of mountain can be merged together to form a complex idea
- This complex idea is a golden mountain
- All simple ideas must ultimately derive from sense impressions
- My idea of red must have come from the sense impression of the colour red
- Hume also claims that we have inward impressions (feelings) and outward impressions(seeing a tree)
- Therefore my feeling of anger or pain can count as impressions too
- This claim means that everything in our imagination must have come from an imperssion
5
Q
Hume’s view on God
A
- The concept of a supremely powerful, infinitely wise and all-loving being is derived from our experience
- For example, our experiences of powerful, wise and loving people that we have encountered
- Having encountered these qualities, we simply have extended them without limit
- This extension of qualities allowed us to form the concept of God
6
Q
Hume’s view on ‘who am I’
A
- If we look into ourselves we can never find anything that corresponds to the idea of ourselves
- This is because we are always changing
- Hume concludes that ‘I’ or ‘self’ are just the name for the series of sensations and thought that make up your life
- There is no essential ‘me’ that exists independently of the sum of conscious experiences which constitute my mind
7
Q
Hume’s view on morality
A
- They come from the ‘inner’ sensations that are our own emotions
- We condemn and praise different actions
- This is ultimately because of the way it makes us feel
8
Q
Hume’s view on causation
A
- Hume claims that we tend to use the word ‘cause’ to link together experiences that frequently occur together
- In other words, we notice patterns that repeat themselves
- We come to regard them as governed by causal laws automatically
- For example, imagine that every time you clapped your hands you heard a thunder clap
- Eventually you would develop the conviction that you clapping is the cause of the thunder clap
- You also would have a feeling of anticipation of an imminent thunderclap
- This feeling of anticipation whenever you clapped your hands is the source of our idea of causation
- Therefore causation is an internal feeling of expectation we develop-one event will follow another
9
Q
What is a simple idea (criticism)
A
- According to empiricists a complex idea can be broken down into simple ideas
- We can break down the idea of a golden mountain into “gold” and “mountain” to understand the origin of each idea
- However it is not clear where a complex idea ends and where a simple idea starts
- For example the concept of “mane” is made up of several individual hairs
- Those hairs have their own properties such as “thin” and “straight”
- These properties may be very different from the properties of the mane
- If the simple parts of our idea are very different from the overall complex idea:
- It becomes unclear how useful the distinction between simple and complex ideas is in explaining the nature of our ideas
10
Q
Missing shade of blue(criticism)
A
- This example seems to show that not all ideas are copied from sense impressions
- Someone who is ,for example, born blind may have not experienced the colour blue
- Now imagine they have gained use of their sight and look at the sky
- They have now gained an idea of the concept ‘blue’ from what they have seen
- Now imagine they are presented with a spectrum of shades ranging between dark blue to light blue
- The middle shade is hidden on the spectrum
- Rationalists believe that they would be able to form an idea of the missing shade
- Therefore they can form this idea without having a sense impression of the missing shade
- Therefore they have come up with an idea without copying a sense impression
- This exception suggests that empiricists are wrong to argue that there is no idea present in the mind which was not first experienced by the senses
11
Q
Reply to the missing shade of blue
A
- Perhaps this only shows that the missing shade of blue is a complex idea, made up by mixing other colours with the ideas of light and dark
- However this leaves the notion of simple idea in doubt as all colours would become simple ideas
12
Q
Descartes’ evil deciever argument
A
o P1: I am certain of a proposition (I know it) only if I can rule out the possibility of it being false.
o P2: If I am being deceived by an evil deceiver then all propositions I believe are false.
o C1: Therefore, in order to be certain of a proposition I need to rule out the evil deceiver
possibility.
o P3: I cannot rule out the evil deceiver possibility.
o C2: Therefore, I am not certain of any propositions
(I have no knowledge).
that escapes this sceptical ‘evil deceiver’ argument, since even if I am being deceived, I must
exist in order for this deception to take place - “this proposition: I am, I exist, whenever it is
uttered from me, or conceived by the mind, necessarily is true” (
13
Q
Descartes’ (first wave of doubt) senses
A
- Descartes wanted to build a secure system of knowledge
- To achieve this he employed a method of doubt
- This involved being extremely sceptical to all his foundational beliefs
- He begun by noting that his senses have sometimes deceived him
- For example, he has been the victim of illusions
- He therefore resolves not to trust his senses anymore
14
Q
Descartes’ (second wave of doubt) dreaming
A
- Descartes’ states that while dreaming we often believe ourselves to be in places where we are not
- Therefore it is entirely plausible to be sceptical whether or not we are dreaming now
- If this could be a dream then he cannot be sure that anything appearing around him is real
15
Q
Descartes’ (third wave of doubt) evil deciever argument
A
- I can only be certain of a proposition if I can rule out the possibility of it being false
- If I am being deceived by an evil deceiver then all propositions I believe are false
- Therefore in order to be certain of a proposition I must rule out the possibility of an evil deceiver
- However I cannot rule out the evil deceiver possibility
- Therefore I am not certain of any proposition
- However Descartes’ stated that when he attempts to doubt his existence:
- He recognises that there must be something doing the doubting
- The being that is doing the doubting is him
- Therefore is his own existence cannot be doubted
- In other words he states ‘I think therefore I am’
