Quiz 2 Flashcards
Accessibilism
a sort of internalism that argues that the epistemic justification of a eprson is determined by things which the person has reflective or introspective access
Mentalism
a sort of of internalism that says the epistemic justification of a person’s belief is determined only by things that are internal to the the person’s mental life
Supervenience thesis
the justificatory status of a person’s doxastic attitudes supervenes solely on the person’s occurent and dispositional mental states, events, conditions
Mental duplicate thesis
implication of internalism… if any two possible individuals are exactly alike mentally, then they are exactly alike justificationally.
Externalism
differences in justification can result from contingent non-mental differences, such as differing causal connections or reliability
Examples used by Internalists…
difference between a novice birdwatcher and an expert birdwatcher
Plantinga’s Three Kinds of Internal evidence
- Propositions (e.g. belief)
- Sensory (e.g. perception)
- Impulsional (e.g. intuition)
Impulsional evidence
the sense of conviction or confidence that accompanies beliefs
Plantinga’s argument against Internalism
- Internalism is true only if impulsion justifies
- If impulsion justifies, then all beliefs are justified.
- It is not the case that all beliefs are justified.
- It is not the case that impulsion justifies.
- Internalism is not true.
Internalist Replies to Plantinga’s Objection
Some propositions are believed reluctantly.
The denial of things we believe do not always feel “weird” or “absurd”.
Impulsional evidence provides strong justification only if it is undefeated and decisive.
Impulsional evidence must be accompanied by other evidence. (e.g., past reliability)
Goldman’s Forgotten Evidence Objection
Sally reads about the benefits of broccoli in the NY science section. Forms the justified belief that broccoli is beneficial.
Sally no longer recalls where she learned about broccoli’s benefits
She retains belief that broccoli is beneficial
Internalist Response to Goldman Forgotten Evidence
Justification provided by vivacity of memory and feelings of confidence
Justification by background belief in the reliability of memory
Sosa’s Introspective Beliefs Objection
My experience of a triangle justifies my corresponding introspective belief.
My experience of a 23-sided figure does not justify my corresponding introspective belief. Why does the former justify while the latter does not?
Weak Internalism vs. Strong Internalism
Weak - justification is at least partly determined by the mental states to which you have reflective access
Strong- justification is completely determined by the mental states to which you have reflective access
Reliabilist Theories of Justification
Non-theory… S is externally justified in believing p=p is true, and S is a thinking subject
Reliability 1: S … = the process by means of which S was led to believe P is reliable
Reliability 2: S…. = the process by means of which S was led to believe that P is a process that generally leads to true belief
Causal Theories of justification
Causal theory 1… S is externally justified in believing p= S believes p; and p’s being true is the cause of S’s believing p.
CT 2… Se is externally justified in believing p = S believes p; and p’s being true contributes causally to S’s believing p
CT 3 … S…. = p’s being ture contributes causally to S’s believing p; and it is evident to S that p’s being true contributes causally to her belief that p
Mixed Theory of Justification
S is externally justified in believing p = S believes p and the cause of S’s believing that p is that S employes a belief-forming process that generally leads to a true belief
Absolute Concept
Absolute concepts have an all or nothing structure… e.g. pregnant, boiling, knowledge
Peter Unger on Absolute Concepts
- according to Unger, knowledge requires absolute certainy
- skeptic reveals that there are ‘bumps’ and ‘irregularities’ in our ordinary evidence
- knowledge requires the elimination of all competing possibilities (i.e that contrast with waht is known)
- upshot: we seldom, if ever, satisfy the conditions for applying the concept
Dretske on Absolute Concepts
- according to Dretske, absolute concepts depict a situation as being devoid of a certain kind of thing (e.g. flatness= absence of bumps, empty = absence of objects)
- relationally absolute (i.e. absolute relation to a certain standard)
Why is knowledge absolute according to Unger and Dretske?
Unger= knowledge is absolute because it requires absolute certainty Dretske = knowledge is absollute because it requires full justification
Dretske’s def. of knowledge
an evidential state in which all relevant alternatives (to what is known) are eliminated
Dretske’s def. of relevant alternatives
. the set of possible alternatives
that a person must be in an evidential position to exclude
Methodist
we have to
Methodist
we know how we know -> we can figure out what we know… we have the answer to b, and given our answer to b we can figure out the answer to a
Particularist
we know what we know -> we can figure out how we know. We have the answer to a, and that given the answer to a, we can figure out the answer to b
Skeptic
We have to answer to neither a nor b. Since we cant answer a until we answer b and we cannot answer b until we anser a, we cant answer either one
Chisholm’s Alternatives and Begging the Question
Methodism: begs the question as to how we know that the assumed method is correct
Particularism: begs the question… how do you know what you claim to know
Skepticism: begs the question by assuming that the particularist does not know that certain propositions are true tand theat the methodist does not know that certain criterion is correct…
Since all three beg the question, we are free to adopt a question begging solution
Chisholm’s Arguments for Particularism
We are all already particularists since there are propositions we take to be true.
Since methodism and scepticism both beg the question, there is no reason for us to switch to either.
Particularism is best suited to allow us to make progress in epistemology.
Explanationism
Explanationist = we should answer (A) and (B) in a way that yields the most satisfactory explanatory picture.
-Explanationist employ the method of reflective equilibrium to respond to the problem of criterion.
Reflective Equilibrium
a state of balance or coherence among a set of beliefs arrived at by a process of deliberative mutual adjustment among general principles (e.g. methods) and particular judgments.
Explanatory Particularism
We begin with our considered, but revisable, beliefs or intuitions about which propositions are true, and try to come up with a criterion, and make adjustments until we reach a state of reflective equilibrium.
Cohertentism
We begin with both our beliefs/assumptions/intuitions about which propositions are true about which methods for telling if a proposition is true are correct and make adjustments until we reach a state of reflective equilibrium.
Contextualism
the truth conditions of the sentence ‘S knows that p’ varies depending on the context in which it is uttered
e.g. bank case
Contextual Factors
- Importance of getting things right
- Mentioning of an alternative possibility
- Consideration of an alternative possibility
Invariantist
someone who denies that contextual factors influence the truth conditions of knowledge attributions