Epistemology Flashcards
what are descartes’ three doubts
- scepticism about the senses
- dreaming and reality
- the evil demon
what is the trademark argument
Descartes- he has an idea in his mind of a supremely perfect god. because god is beyond the sensory perceptions, that originates from god himself who places this idea in our minds from birth
locke’s quote on ideas
“Experience: in that, all our knowledge is founded; and from that it ultimately derives itself”
what is the historical plain method
all our knowledge can in theory be traced back to some experience that we had
leibniz on lock?
mind is innately determined to believe some pples over others; Eglin agreed
WT Jones on ideas for locke?
Locke reduces complex ideas- surely we see an object as whole and then identify its parts
the veil of perception criticism
Pojman: permanent picture gallery: can’t access the objects behind the pictures, dead end to what we know; hume agreed
objections to the trademark argument (2)
- Descartes confuses the idea of god with god himself
- Cottingham’s sponge cake: made of flour, eggs, etc, but the sponginess in the cake is not contained in its cause
- -> D responds by saying that the property is contained ‘eminently in a higher form’
discuss the idea of causality from an empirical perspective
Locke: we get the idea of causality by observing that some things begin because of others
Peter mark: this is circular, because it presupposes causality before we even make this observation
Hume’s idea is better: causation is the mere observation of constant conjuncture
Locke and types of ideas
sensation –>simple ideas
reflection –>complex ideas
Locke’s three types of knowledge
intuitive (most certain, immediate), demonstrative (a priori like maths and god), sensitive (sense data, uncertain)
name four criticisms of Locke’s ideas
Berkley, Veil of perception, Hume’s missing shade of blue, W.T. Jones, Catherine Elgin
name two criticisms of Locke’s tabula rasa
Noam Chomsky, Leibniz
Rationalist scholars?
- Descartes (wax) (cogito)
- Leibniz (immaterial ideas)
- Spinoza
What does Leibniz argue for the rationalist position?
Since ideas are immaterial, it is unfeasible that we get them through the physical.
Cartesian substance dualism?
Persons have an incorporeal soul. Soul is a logical substance possessing none of the attributes of physical substance like divisibility & extension in space.
What does Descartes’ epistemology confuse?
What fallacy does it therefore fall into?
His epistemology relies on a confusion over Leibniz’ Law on the Identity of Indiscernibles. It falls foul of the MASKED MAN FALLACY.
- I can doubt that my body exists
- I cannot doubt that I exist
- therefore by Leibniz’ Law I’m not identical with my body
Same as:
- I can doubt that C.Dogson wrote Alice in Wonderland
- I cannot doubt Lewis Carroll wrote Alice & wonderland exists
- therefore Dogson is not one & the same as Lewis Carroll.
C.D Broad on The Problem of Induction
‘induction is the glory of science and the scandal of philosophy’
What is Hume’s problem of induction?
The lack of justification for generalisations, or presupposing the eventuality of certain events (principle of uniformity of nature).
Nelson Goodman’s new riddle of induction
Goodman proposed that some diamonds are ‘grue’ so they are green for many years (time t) until they turn blue. The “new” problem of induction is, since all emeralds we have ever seen are both green and grue, why do we suppose that after time t we will find green but not grue emeralds?
Hume’s conclusion on inductive scepticism
Questioning our inductive inferences doesn’t get you anywhere. ‘If the skeptic’s were universally and steadily accepted, all human life would come to an end’ (Hume)
‘Philosophical cop-out by which we all live’ - Matthew Sweet
antecedents of John Locke’s argument of the mind as initially tabula rasa ?
Aristotle
Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
Aquinas
What two kinds of experience is there?
Sensation and reflection
What does sensation tell us about?
The things and processes in the external world
What does reflection tell us about?
The operations of our own minds
What ideas are innate to some extent?
Time, space, causality, comparison, language
What is an inductive argument?
The premises support the probable truth of the conclusion
What is a deductive argument
The truth of a deductive argument is guaranteed by the premise
How does Catherine Elgin criticise Locke’s idea of the tabula rasa
We don’t start with an empty stage, we have an initial inquiry revised with data.
