Epistemology

Question 1

A Priori Knowledge

Answer 1

knowledge justified independently of, or prior to, experience.

Question 2

Epistemology

Answer 2

the area of philosophy that deals with questions concerning knowledge and that considers various theories of knowledge

Question 3

A Posteriori Knowledge

Answer 3

knowledge based on, or posterior to, experience empirical based on experience.

Question 4

Skepticism

Answer 4

The claim that we do not have knowledge

Question 5

Rationalism

Answer 5

the claim that reason or intellect is the primary source of our fundamental knowledge

Question 6

Empiricism

Answer 6

the claim that sense experience is the sole source of our knowledge about the world

Question 7

Constructivism

Answer 7

the claim that knowledge is neither already in the mind nor passively received from experience but that the mind constructs knowledge out of the materials of experience

Question 8

Epistemological Relativism

Answer 8

the claim that there is no universal, objective knowledge of reality because all knowledge is relative to either the individual or his or her culture

Question 9

Universal Belief Falsifiers

Answer 9

strategies used by skeptics to attack knowledge claims by showing that there are possible states of affairs that would prevent us from ever distinguishing true beliefs from fake ones

Question 10

Principle of Induction

Answer 10

the assumption that the future will be like the past

Question 11

Uniformity of Nature

Answer 11

the thesis that the laws of nature that have been made true thus far will continue to be true tomorrow

Question 12

Innate Ideas

Answer 12

ideas that are inborn; ideas or principles that the mind already contains prior to experience

Question 13

Primary Qualities

Answer 13

the properties of an object that can be mathematically expressed and scientifically studied, that is, the properties of solidity, extension, shape, motion or rest, and number.

Question 14

Secondary Qualities

Answer 14

The properties of an object that are subjectively perceived, that are the effects the object has on our sense organs, and whose appearances are different from the object that produces them (properties of color, sound, taste, smell, and texture.)

Question 15

Idealism

Answer 15

The position that maintains that ultimate reality is mental or spiritual in nature.

Question 16

Representative realism

Answer 16

The view that we do not directly experience external objects, but their primary qualities (such as shape and size) produce ideas in us that accurately represent these real properties of the objects.

Question 17

Synthetic a posteriori knowledge

Answer 17

Knowledge that is based on experience and that adds new information to the subject.

Question 18

Synthetic a priori knowledge

Answer 18

Knowledge that is acquired through reason, independently of experience, that is universal and necessary, and that provides information about the way the world is.

Question 19

Phenomena

Answer 19

In Kant’s theory, the “things-as-they-appear-to-us” that exist in the world of our experience, which is partially constructed by the mind.

Question 20

Noumena

Answer 20

in Kant’s theory, the “things-in-themselves” that exist outside of our experience.

Question 21

Objectivism

Answer 21

The claim that there is one set of universal truths or facts about the world and that these truths are independent of us.

Question 22

Subjectivism

Answer 22

The claim that beliefs are relative to each person’s individual perspective.

Question 23

Cultural relativism

Answer 23

The claim that all beliefs are relative to a particular culture.

Question 24

Historical relativism

Answer 24

The claim that each historical age had different conceptual frameworks such that there are no universal truths but only truths that are correct for a particular age.