Epistemology Flashcards
Berkeley: Role for God
God is omnipresent
To be is to be perceived
God is everywhere, therefore, he is always perceiving.
Things cannot fall out of existence if they are not being presently perceived by someone because God is always there.
Hume: Relations of Ideas
Truths based on mathematical equations and logic
Not present in nature
The comparison/relationship of two “ideas”
(1+1=2)
Hume: Matters of Fact
Type of reason
Cause of effect relationship
Judgements
Impressions & Ideas
Impressions: Come from senses - what we perceive in that moment (the flower smells nice). Requires experience for us to know
Ideas: Ideas are recollections of impressions. From the judgements we make from impressions, we form ideas.
Therefore, ideas are weaker than impressions.
Hume: Process by which beliefs are formed
All “customs” make up beliefs in matters of fact
Beliefs are formed from “customs”
“Customs” are made up of observed and accepted cause/effect relationships (since it rained today, the grass will grow)
From the observed and accepted “custom” (the grass grows after rainfall), the mind creates “habits” (since the grass grows after it rains, the grass will continue to grow after each rainfall)
Mind habitually creates these customs, which leads to habits.
So our mind automatically groups our ideas and impressions together - which form customs
We then habitually create habits from customs
Which then form “beliefs”
Hume: 3 Principles of Connextion
Resemblance: alike in appearance
Causation: identify a source
Contiguity: least amount of distance
Kant: Transcendental Idealism
Mind imposes interpretative categories on our experiences
We don’t experience reality directly, our mind experiences it; and makes sense of it for us
Object causes the kind to interpret the object
Kant: Copernican Revolution
Objects orientate around the mind
Objects conform to our knowledge
Our kind then places judgement or interpretation of these objects that are presenting themselves to us.
