Epistemology: Definitions

Question 1

a posteriori

Answer 1

Knowledge of propositions that can only be known to be true or false through sense experience.

Question 2

a priori

Answer 2

Knowledge of propositions that do not require (sense) experience to be known to be true or false.

Question 3

ability knowledge

Answer 3

Knowing ‘how’ to do something, e.g. ‘I know how to ride a bike’.

Question 4

acquaintance knowledge

Answer 4

Knowing ‘of’ someone or some place. For example, ‘I know the manager of the restaurant’, or ‘I know Oxford well’.

Question 5

analytic

Answer 5

A proposition that is true (or false) in virtue of the meanings of the words. For instance, ‘a bachelor is an unmarried man’ is analytically true, while ‘a square has three sides’ is analytically false.

Question 6

belief

Answer 6

Affirmation of, or conviction regarding, the truth of aproposition. E.g. ‘I believe that the grass is green.’

Question 7

Cartesian circle

Answer 7

Refers to the circular reasoning Descartes seems to employ regarding clear and distinct ideas and God: Descartes cannot rely on clear and distinct ideas before proving God exists, but he cannot prove that God exists without relying on clear and distinct ideas.

Question 8

clear and distinct ideas

Answer 8

A clear idea is ‘present and accessible to the attentive mind’; a distinct idea is clear and also sharply separated from other ideas so that every part of it is clear.

Question 9

cogito, the

Answer 9

I think’, Descartes’ first certain knowledge.

Question 10

copy principle, Humean

Answer 10

All simple ideas are copies of impressions.

Question 11

direct realism

Answer 11

Physical objects exist independently of our minds and of our perceptions of them and the immediate objects of perception are mind-independent objects and their properties.

Question 12

disjunctive theory of perception

Answer 12

If something looks a certain way, then one of two quite different things is going on: either I directly perceive a mind-independent physical object that is F or it appears to me just as if there is something that is F, but there is nothing that is F.

Question 13

empirical

Answer 13

Relating to or deriving from experience, especially sense experience, but also including experimental scientific investigation.

Question 14

empiricism

Answer 14

The theory that there can be no a priori knowledge of synthetic propositions about the world (outside my mind), i.e. all a priori knowledge is of analytic propositions, while all knowledge of synthetic propositions is gained through sense experience.

Question 15

empiricism, classical

Answer 15

The theory that all knowledge is gained from experience: All concepts are gained from sense experience or experience of our own minds; and all knowledge of synthetic propositions about the world (outside my mind) is gained through sense experience.

Question 16

epistemology

Answer 16

The study (‘-ology’) of knowledge (‘episteme’) and related concepts, including belief, justification, and certainty. It looks at the possibility and sources of knowledge.

Question 17

external world

Answer 17

Everything that exists outside of our minds.

Question 18

Gettier case

Answer 18

A situation in which we have justified true belief, but not knowledge, because the belief is only accidentally true, given the evidence that justifies it.

Question 19

hallucination

Answer 19

A non-veridical perceptual experience that is not coherently connected with the rest of our perceptual experience.

Question 20

hallucination, argument from

Answer 20

Against direct realism: The possibility of hallucinatory experiences that are subjectively indistinguishable from a veridical perception means that we don’t immediately perceive physical objects, but sense-data.

Question 21

Hume’s ‘fork’

Answer 21

We can have knowledge of just two sorts of claim: the relations between ideas and matters of fact.

Question 22

idea

Answer 22

An object of perception, thought, or understanding. Locke uses the term to refer to a complete thought, taking the form of a proposition, e.g. ‘bananas are yellow’; a sensation or sensory experience, e.g. a visual sensation of yellow; or a concept, e.g. ‘yellow’.

Question 23

idea, complex

Answer 23

An idea that is derived from two or more simple ideas.

Question 24

idea, simple

Answer 24

A single, uniform conception, with nothing distinguishable within it.

Question 25

idealism, Berkeley’s

Answer 25

All that exists are minds and ideas. What we think of as physical objects are, in fact, bundles of ideas. The immediate objects of perception (ordinary objects such as tables, chairs etc.) are ideas, mind-dependent objects. Esse est percipi (aut percipere) – to be is to be perceived (or to perceive).

Question 26

identical, numerically

Answer 26

One and the same thing. Everything is numerically identical to itself, and nothing else.

Question 27

identical, qualitatively

Answer 27

Two or more things are qualitatively identical if they share their properties in common, for example, two separate copies of the same picture.

Question 28

illusion

Answer 28

A distortion of the senses that means that what we perceive is different from what exists.

Question 29

illusion, argument from

Answer 29

Against direct realism: Illusions can be ‘subjectively indistinguishable’ from veridical perception, (e.g. a crooked stick in water) so we see sense-data, and not physical objects, immediately.

Question 30

impression

Answer 30

What we are immediately and directly aware of, which can either be impressions of ‘sensation’ or impressions of ‘reflection’. Impressions of sensation derive from our senses, impressions of reflection derive from our experience of our mind, including emotions.

Question 31

indirect realism

Answer 31

We perceive physical objects, which exist independently of the mind, indirectly via sense-data which are caused by and represent physical objects.

Question 32

infallibilism

Answer 32

To be knowledge, a belief must be certain. If we can doubt a belief, then it is not certain, and so it is not knowledge.

Question 33

infinite

Answer 33

Without any bounds or limits. E.g. the natural numbers form an infinite series, the numbers continue in both directions (positive and negative numbers) without any end point.

Question 34

innate

Answer 34

Knowledge or ideas that are in some way built into the structure of the mind, rather than gained from sense experience.

Question 35

innatism, concept

Answer 35

The claim that some of our concepts are innate, not derived from experience, but somehow part of the structure of the mind.

Question 36

innatism, knowledge

Answer 36

The claim that there is at least some innate knowledge, not derived from experience, but somehow part of the structure of the mind.

Question 37

intuition

Answer 37

Direct non-inferential awareness of abstract objects or truths.

Question 38

intuition, rational

Answer 38

The capacity to discover the truth of a claim just by thinking about it using reason.

Question 39

justification

Answer 39

What is offered as grounds for believing an assertion.

Question 40

lemma

Answer 40

A claim made part way through an argument.

Question 41

matters of fact

Answer 41

States of affairs, how the world is. According to Hume, they are known through experience and induction, especially causal inference.

Question 42

mind-dependent

Answer 42

Depending on a mind for existence or definition, e.g. ideas are mind-dependent.

Question 43

mind-independent

Answer 43

Not depending on a mind for existence or definition. According to realism in perception, physical objects are mind-independent; according to moral realism, moral properties are mind-independent (in some important way).

Question 44

necessary condition

Answer 44

One proposition is a necessary condition of another when the second cannot be true while the first is false. For example, being a man is a necessary condition of being a bachelor, as if you are not a man you cannot be a bachelor.

Question 45

no false lemmas

Answer 45

The 'no false lemmas' condition is sometimes added to the tripartite theory of knowledge and says that for something to count as knowledge it must be the case that you did not infer it from anything false.

Question 46

perception

Answer 46

Awareness of apparently external objects through use of the senses.

Question 47

perception, immediate objects of

Answer 47

What we are directly aware of in perception, which may be physical objects or sensations of these.

Question 48

perceptual variation, argument from

Answer 48

Against direct realism: Different people perceive the same physical object differently. Therefore, what each person perceives is how the object appears to them. This appearance is mind-dependent sense-data. Physical objects are therefore not perceived directly.

Question 49

physical object

Answer 49

Material objects, including things like tables, books, our own bodies, plants, mountains.

Question 50

primary quality

Answer 50

Properties that are ‘utterly inseparable’ from the object, whatever changes it goes through, even if it is divided into smaller and smaller pieces. The object has these properties ‘in and of itself’. Locke lists extension (he also talks of size), shape, motion, number, and solidity as primary qualities.

Question 51

property, relational

Answer 51

A characteristic that something has only in relation to another thing. E.g. 'Pete is taller than Bob', or 'Alice loves Jack'.

Question 52

proposition

Answer 52

A declarative statement (or more accurately, what is claimed by a declarative statement), such as ‘mice are mammals’. Propositions can go after ‘that’ in ‘I believe that…’ and ‘I know that…’.

Question 53

propositional knowledge

Answer 53

Knowing ‘that’ some claim – a proposition – is true or false, e.g. 'I know that Paris is the capital of France'.

Question 54

rationalism

Answer 54

The theory that there can be a priori knowledge of synthetic propositions about the world (outside my mind) gained through rational insight and reasoning.

Question 55

rationalism, classical

Answer 55

The theory that there can be a priori knowledge of synthetic propositions about the world (outside my mind) that is innate and then developed through rational insight and reasoning. The concepts involved in innate knowledge are also thereby innate.

Question 56

reflection

Answer 56

Locke: Our experience of ‘the internal operations of our minds’, gained through introspection or an awareness of what the mind is doing. More generally, thinking.

Question 57

relations of ideas

Answer 57

Hume: Relations of ideas are established by pure thought or reflection and are ‘intuitively and demonstratively certain’. The negation of a relation of ideas is a contradiction.

Question 58

relativism

Answer 58

The theory that some area of discourse, e.g. concerning truth, knowledge or morality, is 'relative to' a society or person. According to relativism, a proposition may be true 'for' one person but not another; or an action may be morally right in one society but not another.

Question 59

reliabilism

Answer 59

The theory that you know that p if p is true, you believe that p, and your belief is caused by a reliable cognitive process.

Question 60

represent

Answer 60

A relation of one thing (e.g. sense-data) to another (e.g. physical objects) established by an accurate and systematic correlation of the first to the second.

Question 61

resemblance

Answer 61

A relation of similarity (in properties or appearance) between two things, e.g. sense-data and physical objects.

Question 62

scepticism

Answer 62

The view that our usual justifications for claiming our beliefs amount to knowledge are inadequate, so we do not in fact have knowledge.

Question 63

scepticism, global

Answer 63

Scepticism about all knowledge claims, especially concerning the existence and nature of anything outside the mind.

Question 64

scepticism, local

Answer 64

Scepticism about some specific claim, or more commonly, about some area/branch of supposed knowledge.

Question 65

secondary quality

Answer 65

Properties that physical objects have that are ‘nothing but powers to produce various sensations in us’. Locke lists ‘colours, sounds, tastes, and so on’, later adding smells and temperature.

Question 66

sensation

Answer 66

Our experience of objects outside the mind, perceived through the senses.

Question 67

sense experience

Answer 67

Experiences given to us by our senses.

Question 68

sense-data (singular sense-datum)

Answer 68

Mental images or representations of what is perceived, the ‘content’ of perceptual experience. If sense-data exist, they are the immediate objects of perception and are 'private', mind-dependent mental things.

Question 69

senses

Answer 69

Capacities that gives us experience of the external world. They include sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and bodily awareness.

Question 70

sensible quality

Answer 70

A property that can be detected by the senses.

Question 71

solipsism

Answer 71

The view that only oneself, one’s mind, exists. There no mind-independent physical objects and there are no other minds either.

Question 72

sufficient condition

Answer 72

One proposition is a sufficient condition for another when the first cannot be true while the second is false. For example, being a dog is sufficient for being an animal, because something can't be a dog without also being an animal.

Question 73

synthetic

Answer 73

A proposition that is not analytic, but true or false depending on how the world is.

Question 74

systematic correlation

Answer 74

A relationship between two things whereby a change in one is always accompanied by a change in the other.

Question 75

tabula rasa

Answer 75

Latin for ‘blank slate’. Locke claims that at birth our mind is a tabula rasa, meaning we have no innate knowledge or ideas.

Question 76

time-lag argument

Answer 76

Against direct realism: Because it takes time for us to perceive physical objects, we don't see them directly. For example, as light takes 8 minutes to reach the earth from the sun, if you look at the sun you are actually seeing it as it was 8 minutes ago. Therefore, you are not perceiving the sun directly.

Question 77

tripartite view of knowledge

Answer 77

Justified, true belief is necessary and sufficient for propositional knowledge (S knows that p if and only if S is justified in believing that p, p is true and S believes that p).

Question 78

unperceived objects

Answer 78

Objects that exist when not perceived by anyone.

Question 79

veridical

Answer 79

A proposition that is true or an experience that represents the world as it actually is.

Question 80

virtue epistemology

Answer 80

S knows that p if and only if p is true, S believes that p, and S's belief that p is the result of S exercising their epistemic/intellectual virtues; in Zagzebski's definition, S knows that p if S believes that p and S's belief arises from an act of intellectual virtue

Question 81

virtue, epistemic/intellectual

Answer 81

A skill, ability or trait or the mind or person that contributes to the good end of gaining knowledge and forming true beliefs.

Question 82

waves of doubt

Answer 82

Descartes' three arguments supporting scepticism. The first, an argument from illusion, throws doubt on always believing what our senses tell us. The second, an argument from dreaming, throws doubt on all sense perception, and therefore on the nature of reality. The third, the possibility that an evil demon is deceiving us, throws doubt on all judgment, including the existence of a physical world and on the truths of mathematics.