key terms epistemology

Question 1

what is direct realism?

Answer 1

the immediate objects of perception are mind independent objects and their properties

Question 2

what is indirect realism?

Answer 2

the immediate objects of perception are mind dependent objects (sense data) that are caused by and represent mind independent objects

Question 3

what is idealism?

Answer 3

An anti realist theory of perception that claims that the immediate objects of our perception are mind dependent ideas (it denies the existence of material substance). All that exists are mind and ideas, nothing exists unperceived. It is most famously associated with George Berkley

Question 4

innatism

Answer 4

innatism is the claim that we are born with some knowledge already. Innatists usually believe that this knowledge can be revealed through reason

Question 5

rationalism

Answer 5

we can acquire knowledge purely through intuition and deduction (we can acquire knowledge purely by thinking rather than through perceptual experience)

Question 6

a priori knowledge

Answer 6

knowledge that can be acquired without experience of the external world, through thought alone
e.g working out what 900÷7=

Question 7

a posteriori knowledge

Answer 7

knowledge that can be acquired from experience of the external world.
e.g doing an experiment to discover the temperature at which water boils

Question 8

analytic truth

Answer 8

true in virtue of the meaning of words
e.g a bachelor is an unmarried man

Question 9

synthetic truth

Answer 9

true in virtue of how the world is
e.g the grass is green

Question 10

normal incredulity

Answer 10

day to day doubt about things we can’t be certain we know. Whether a particular proposition is true or not
We can test these empirically (a posteriori)
Experience from our senses provide justification

Question 11

Philosophical scepticism

Answer 11

A deeper process of reflecting on how we know what we think we know.
Doubts about how we achieve justification, or if we can ever find justification at all

Question 12

local scepticism

Answer 12

contained within one area of knowledge or experience
Could be doubt about validity of memory, or of evidence base for claims within history

Question 13

global scepticism

Answer 13

questions justification from all knowledge and argues we know nothing at all