Reason as a source of knowledge (epistemology)

Question 1

What is innatism?

Answer 1

The claim that we’re born with knowledge
Plato believed this knowledge to be “printed on our souls at the point of existence”, and we have simply forgotten it
We can recollect this knowledge through a series of questions/reasoning (innatism)

Question 2

Slave boy argument

Answer 2

The claim that we’re born with knowledge
Plato believed this knowledge to be “printed on our souls at the point of existence”, and we have simply forgotten it
We can recollect this knowledge through a series of questions/reasoning (rationalism)

Slave boy argument (Argument that shows how to access these innate ideas)

P1)The slave has never been taught geometry
P2)Socrates simply asks questions, he doesn’t teach the slave anything
P3)After questioning, the slave manages to correctly answer Socrates’ question
P4)he now has a truth about geometry
C1)the truth didn’t derive from his own experience, so it must’ve been innate

Question 3

Leibniz on innatism

Answer 3

Believed the human mind gains knowledge through reason alone
Claims we have innate ideas which are revealed through reason

Question 4

What are necessary truths?

Answer 4

Truths that must be true in every case, not based on senses (mathematics, deducted through rationalism)
Leibniz argues that the knowledge of necessary truths are innate

Question 5

Contingent truths

Answer 5

Truths based on induction that can be false, based on our senses (eg. the sun rising every day)
Could be false in some other possible world (Eg. Paris being capital of france)

Question 6

Leibniz’s argument on the necessity of truths

Answer 6

Aims to prove that there is an issue with empiricism by showing how necessary truths are innate.
Posteriori experience can only tell us about specific instances.
Eg. experience can tell us that 2+2=4, but 2+2=4 is a necessary truth as it must always be true
The knowledge of it being immutable doesnt come from experience as it only confirms the truth, not its necessity
We know that its true by paying attention to our minds, meaning the knowledge of necessary truths is innate

Question 7

No universal assent (Locke’s response to slave boy arg)

Answer 7

Attacks the idea of ideas being innate as they are held by the majority as
Children and idiots do not possess these innate principles.

P1- Any innate ideas/concepts x would be universally held
P2- Children and idiots do not have an ideas of x
P3- If an idea is held in the mind, then you must be aware of it.
C1- So x isn’t universally held.
C2- Therefore x isn’t innate, concepts aren’t innate.

Question 8

Locke’s tabula rasa

Answer 8

Claim that the mind from birth is a blank slate (contains no thoughts/ ideas)
Our knowledge stems from
Sensation- our sense perceptions, our experiences outside of the mind
Reflection- our internal operations, experiences of our own mind (thinking, wanting etc)

Question 9

Tabula rasa

Answer 9

Our minds receive impressions from our senses and are then copied into ideas
Simple concepts- the sensation of cold reminds me of winter
complex concept- seeing the colour blue and feeling cold can make me think of the ocean
This proves our ideas can be shown to derive from experience, making innatism not entirely true

Question 10

Deduction

Answer 10

A method of deriving true propersitions from other true properisitons, using reason
Eg. If A is true, So is B
A is true
Therefore B is true

Question 11

Intuition

Answer 11

The ability to know something is true, by thinking about it (Eg. Cogito argument)

Question 12

Descarte’s Cogito

Answer 12

Descarte (infallibalist)
Aims to prove rationalism true by proving a synthetic truth using apriori means (Intuition and deduction)
Cogito Ergo sum: I think therefore I am
Aims to point that even if descarte cannot trust his senses (Evil demon, dreams) He cannot doubt the fact that he exists
For a demon to decieve him, there must be something for it to decieve in the first place, and the fact that he can doubt his own existence proves that he does exist, which is that he exists

Question 13

Innate ideas

Answer 13

Ideas that are within us from the point of birth, which can be revealed via reason

Question 14

Leibniz response to no universal assent

Answer 14

Disagrees with P2: children and idiots do possess innate principles in their everyday actions, even if not articulated.

Question 15

Trademark argument

Answer 15

Aims to prove the existence of God via intuition
P1-I have the concept of God
P2-My concept of God is the concept of something infinite and perfect
P3-I am a finite and imperfect being
P4-The cause of an effect must have at least as much reality as effect
P5-Cause of my concept of God must have as much reality of what the concept is about
P6-So the cause of my idea of God must be infinite and perfect
C-Therefore he exists

Question 16

Descarte on existence of an external world

Answer 16

Uses intuition and deduction to deduce existence of external world
P1-I have perception of a external world with physical objects
P2-My perceptions cannot be caused by my own mind as they are involuntary
P3-So the cause must be external to my mind
P4-God exists
P5-If the cause is God and not physical objects, then God has given me the ability to create false beliefs from my perception
P6-But God is a perfect being by definition and would not do this
P7-So I can trust my perceptions
C-Therefore given P1 and P above, I know the external world of physical objects exist

Question 17

Humes fork

Answer 17

Empiricist view, claims theres only two types of knowledge
Relations of ideas: Either intuitively or demonstratively certain, cannot be denied without a contradiction, discoverable through intuition apriori
Matters of fact:A fact that can never apply a contradiction, is known a posterori, no logical contradiction in it being false
Descartes arguments rely on matters of facts
Matters of fact are a posteriori
If Humes fork is correct, it means that descarte is not entirely apriori and doesnt establism rationalism

Question 18

Response to Cogito Argument

Answer 18

Descarte concludes I exist from I think
Hume argues this doesn’t follow
Hume believes what we experience is a constant array of thoughts and perceptions
We never experience a self, although we have thoughts this doesnt garuntee a thing is the same thing from one thought to another
Eg. Evil demon could just be disembodied thoughts that I exist
No logical contradiction in the idea of a thought without a thinker, you cannot deduce I exist from I think without using apriori reaosning only

Question 19

Response to Descarte external world argument

Answer 19

Aims to show that descarte concept God comes from experience, show how it fails to establish rationalism
Descarte claims its impossible that a finite being can concieve of a perfect God
Hume disagrees and that we can create concepts of infinity and perfection by taking finite and imperfect ideas and extending them beyond limits
Eg. Experience gives us goodness, to create concept of perfectly good, we extend it beyond its limits
Infinity can be created by negating concept of finite