Reason as a source of knowledge

Question 1

Analytic Truth

Answer 1

True or false in virtue of the meaning of the words.
“1+1=2”
Cannot be demied without resulting in a logical contradiction.

Question 2

Synthetic Truth

Answer 2

True or fasle in virtue of the world is.
“Grass is green”
Does not lead to a logical contradiction.

Question 3

Two main debates

Answer 3

Innatism vs. empiricism
Rationalism vs. empiricism

Question 4

Empiricism

Answer 4

Argues all knowledge comes from experience.
So there is no a priori knowledge, through innate or rational insight.
Tabla Rasa

Question 5

Innatism

Answer 5

Argues we are born with some knowledge already.
Some knowledge is built into that part of the mind with which we think and understand the world.

Question 6

Rationalism

Answer 6

Says we can acquire some knowledge purely through rational intuition and deduction.

Question 7

Innatist Arguments - Plato: Meno’s slave

Answer 7

Plato argued that all learning in a form of recalling knowledge from before we’re born. So, we are born with innate knowledge we just don’t remember it.
To prove this, Plato shows how a slave - who has never been taught geometry, knows that a square with an area of 2A will have sides equal to the diagonal of a sqaure with an area of 1A.

Question 8

Innatist Arguments - Leibniz: Necessary Truths

Answer 8

Knowledge of necessary truths must be innate. We know there will never be an instance where you add 2 and 2 and get 5. We know that, 2+2=4 is a necessary truth.
No amount of experience can tell us how things must be (100001 experiments).
Knowledge of necessary truths is an example of a priori knowledge as it cannot be derived from experience alone, we must use reason and logic, ‘paying attention to what is already in our minds’.
So, knowledge of necessary truths is innate, learned a priori and uncovered through reason.

Question 9

Empiricist Arguments - Locke: Argument against innate knowledge

Answer 9

Locke argues that if we had innate knowledge then every human would have such knowledge. And for an idea to be part of the mind one must be conscious of it.
For example, everyone would know the geometry fact that Meno’s slave realises. But Locke argues, “children and idiots” do not possess such knowledge. Innate knowledge would be claim every human is or has been conscious of and is universally accepted. So, there is no innate knowledge.

Question 10

Empiricist Arguments - Locke: Argument against innate concepts

Answer 10

Argues against the existence of innate concepts. We if lack innate concepts then we also lack innate knowledge, because propositional knowledge replies on concepts. E.g. can’t know 1+1=2 without knowing concept of + or 1. Disprove innate concepts = Disprove innate knowlege.
Through simple observation of newborn babies we can suggest they do not have any concepts beyong those experienced in the womb.

Question 11

Locke: Argument against innate concepts - Response

Answer 11

Leibniz agrees that innate knowledge requires innate concepts. But he argues that it’s possible to have innate concepts but not yet be conscious of them.
Leibniz uses innate concepts like identity and impossibility. Of course, a baby can’t verbally articulste these thoughts, but this doesn’t mean the concept isn’t there. Even if we can’t articulate these concepts, they are essential to all thought.

Question 12

Tabula Rasa

Answer 12

It follows from Lockes rejection of innatism that all knowledge must come from experience. So, he argued the mind at birth is ‘tabula rasa’ - a blank slate.
At birth, the mind contains no ideas, thoughts or concepts.
Instead knowledge comes from two types of experience.
Sensations: our sense perceptions.
Reflection: experience of our owns minds (thinking, wanting, etc)

Question 13

Locke: Simple, complex abstract ideas

Answer 13

Gives an explanation to how humans can form complex concepts, such as God, entirely from experience (not innate).
Simple concepts are the building blocks of complex concepts. For example, the sensation of looking at the sky might give me the simple concept of blueness.
Complex concepts are made up from many simple concepts. For example, a chair might consist of many simple concepts (e.g brown, hard, wooden).
Abstract ideas go beyond specific instances, e.g. chairs in general. Chairs may have differing properties - one may be metal, one plastic, or have a different amount of legs. We can form a general concept of a chair by ignoring the irrelevant features and abstracting the features common to all chairs. Same ideas can be applied to concepts like beauty or justice.
So, Locke claims all concepts are derived from experience in some way.

Question 14

Leibniz: Marble Analogy

Answer 14

If we were born with no innate knowledge, then truths would be in us in the way the shape of Hercules is uncarved in a piece of marble. It would entirely neutral as to whether it takes the shape of Hercules or another shape.
However, that piece of marble is veined in such a way that marks out the shape of Hercules, it is inclined to take that shape. Hercules would be innate within the marble, even though it takes a lot of work to expose him.
This is how innate ideas and truths are within us, as unthinking potentialities.

Question 15

Locke: Tabula Rasa

Answer 15

Born blank of all knowledge, ideas and concepts - no a priori innate knowledge.
Two sources of all ideas, Sensation: experience of objects outside the mind, through senses. Reflection:

Question 16

Hume: Impressions and Ideas

Answer 16

Perception can be divided into two subcategories: impressions + ideas.

Impressions are what we are directly aware of, from sensation (senses, e.g. smell of coffee) + reflection ((in our mind, e.g feeling happy).

Ideas are faint copies (copy principle) of those impressions, the idea of a sensation (idea of smell of coffee) + idea of reflections (idea of happiness).

An empiricist account of conecpt acquisition would therefore be either only through experience of one’s self or the environment around them (a posteriori). Complex ideas therefore come from either a complex impression or by the combining of simple ideas, gained from impressions.

Question 17

Hume’s impressions and ideas + empiricist as whole Eval.

Answer 17

Missing shade of blue example - possible to form concept with no corresponding impression, something that exists in the mind without experience.
Our mind must have some some concepts + structures in place for our impressions to make sense in the first place. Innate concepts + knowledge are required to interpret the incoming flow of sensations and reflections. They are necessary for making sense of the world, even if we don’t explicitly attend to them.