epistemology Flashcards
who are the rationalism philosophers?
Descarte, Spinoza, Leibniz
what is rationalism
Truths exist and intelligent people can understand them
Some truths cannot be perceived or experienced
Reason & logic must be used to gain some knowledge
what is decarts approach to rationalism?
Knowledge is gathered from intuition & deductive reasoning, instead of senses
The ideas or concepts that constitute the mind’s ability to think are innate
Knowledge of a particular thing is innate(always known)
Some knowledge is innate and cannot be experienced, but can be reasoned to be true:
-Eternal truths
-Mathematics
-God
what is spinosas approach to rationalism?
Everything is of one substance, (substance monist)
The natural world is composed of the eternal substance of God
Humans, too, are composed of this eternal substance
We can affirm the truth which is inherent in all things, through:
-Knowledge
-Imagination
-Intuition
-Intellect
what is lebiniz’s approach to rationalism?
Combined Descartes’ dualism & Aristotle’s notion of form
Only God & non-composite, immaterial, soul-like entities called ‘monads’
Reality is predetermined by God to maintain harmony in the universe
Space, time, caus
ation, and material items are illusions
does any one persons perspective tell the whole truth?
no
who are the philosophers that deal with empiricism?
Hume Locke, Berkeley
what is Humes approach to empiricism?
Causation cannot be taken for granted - Hume, problem of induction
Our senses may trick us
Knowledge must be experienced
Rigorous tests must be conducted & the result must be the same
evidence is crucial to support knowledge reliability
what is Locke’s approach to empiricism?
We are born as a blank page, without knowledge or experience
Knowledge based on experience - Locke, Outer & Inner Experiences
Outer experience is based on the senses
Inner experience is based on reflection
Examining, comparing, and combining
Outer experiences may be affected by preferences & quality
Inner experiences may be affected by memory distortion & imagination
what is Berkeleys approach to empiricism?
Berkeley defended both materialism & idealism
Everything that we perceive exists
God perceives everything, so things do not require a perceiver in order to exist (the tree falls in the forest)
Dreams & hallucinations cause ‘things’ to exist only in our minds
Kant’s Synthesis of rationalism & empiricism
Our senses inform our understanding of the world (data)
We are only able to know/understand the phenomenal world
The phenomenal world is a combination of sense perceptions as organized by the knower
Reality exists independently, outside of the human mind
Humes Skeptical Argument Concerning Induction?
Observed Regularities used to predict future events.
A proposition: All a’s are g’s by observation
Conclusion: All a’s will be g’s in the future
Laws of Nature
-Implicit assumption of the uniformity of nature
is there a rationally compelling reason to use Inductive Reasoning?
no, but it is human nature
what is the The Problem of Knowledge?
Skepticism about the external world and how we perceive it - and if we are truly perceiving it as it really is - means that knowledge is a problem, not a given.
Plato’s Justified True Belief
Justification ~ a reason to believe in something
Truth ~ since false propositions cannot be known, for something to count as knowledge, it must be actually true
Belief ~ one cannot know something which one does not believe
what is a Belief?
Inherently subjective
Beliefs may be held independently or collectively
Great certitude or conviction
Simply believing in something does not make it true
Beliefs are rarely verified by any objective methods
Beliefs are justified by the evidence of our senses, appeals to authority, or appeals to reason
what is knowledge?
A belief which can be verified
Knowledge is a true belief:
-A belief
-Being true
-Can be justified
how is knowledge attained?
Knowledge is attained by one of the following:
Empirical - based on one’s experience; sensory experience
Rational - based on reason alone, not experience
Transcendental Idealism - based on how one perceives the world as it appears to be
what is truth?
Truth is a statement about how the world actually is.
Assertions, beliefs, thoughts or propositions put forth
Truth comes in three forms:
-Objective truth - outside one’s biases, interpretations or imaginings
-Subjective truth - based on one’s perspective, opinions, or feelings
-Universal truth - a logical truth, seen as eternal or absolute
-Scepticism can be experienced
-Theories of truth attempt to analyze truth
what are justifiers for beliefs?
Prior knowledge or experience
Deduction
Fatalism
GroupThink
Hedonism
Intuition
Law of Nature
Occam’s Razor
Probability Theory
Scientific Method
what is the gettier problem?
A justified belief does not dictate knowledge.
One may have a justified belief which is true but does not lead to knowledge.
Examples:
-A stopped clock is correct twice a day.
-A fire burns without smoke but attracts a
swarm of bugs which, in the distance looks like smoke.
what is No false Beliefs?
Knowledge relying on a False Belief, such as the stopped clock, is problematic therefore, any inference made must also be true in order to support True Knowledge.
what is No Defeaters?
An unknown fact that affects the justification of the true belief.
Non-basic knowledge needs to be….?
Undefeated
Justified
True
Believed
