The origin of concepts and the nature of knowledge

Question 1

What is Gnosticism

Answer 1

Genuine wisdom is only to be gained by means of divine revelation.
E.g. A mystic is wise and a deeply spiritual person, to whom knowledge is given, neither empirically or through reasoning, but from a supernatural source.

Question 2

What is Rationalism?

Answer 2

It is possible to work out substantial truths about geometry and mathematics through reasoning alone. Through the application of reasoning we should be able to understand a significant body of knowledge about the world.
E.g. Mathematical knowledge is gained through reasoning alone

Question 3

What is Innatism?

Answer 3

We are born with some innate concepts and not all knowledge is gained through experience.
For example; instincts.

Question 4

What is concept empiricism

Answer 4

The claim that all our concepts and ideas are gained empirically (through experience).
The only way we gain knowledge is through the imprint of sense experience on our blank slates of minds (tabula rasa)

Question 5

What are Hume’s simple and complex ideas?

Answer 5

All of our concepts are formed through previous sense experience.
Simple concepts are concepts that cannot be broken down into anything less (such as the colour red). When simple concepts are combined, we can create complex concepts.
Such as the simple concept of a horn and a horse to create the complex concept of a unicorn

Question 6

Does the concept of ‘simple ideas’ make sense?

Criticise Hume’s simple and complex ideas.

Answer 6

Simple ideas can be analysed further, so surely they aren’t simple ideas.
For example; a horses mane can be reduced to length, colour, texture, and each individual strand.

Question 7

Do all simple ideas come from sense experience?

Criticise Hume’s simple and complex ideas.

Answer 7

When showing someone 5 shades of blue with one missing, they can rationalise what the missing shade will look like without ever experiencing it.
It is possible to form a concept which has no corresponding impression.

Question 8

Explain Descartes’ trademark argument

Answer 8

The cause of anything must be at least equal to its effect.
I am an imperfect being but I have the clear and distinct idea of a perfect being (God).
I couldn’t have caused this because I am imperfect, therefore a perfect being must have caused this perfect idea.
This perfect being is God.

Question 9

Is the causal principal true?

Counter Descartes’ trademark argument.

Answer 9

A match can cause a bonfire.
A whisper can cause an avalanche.
This means a big effect can have a small beginning, so the idea of God can come from us.

Question 10

Do we have an idea of an infinite being or infinity?

Counter Descartes’ trademark argument.

Answer 10

We don’t have a clear and distinct idea of God because we have no understanding of infinity, as we are finite beings.

Question 11

The idea of God is incoherent.

Counter Descartes’ trademark argument.

Answer 11

Gods attributes are self contradictory.

E.g. Paradox of the stone.

Question 12

The idea of an all powerful God is not universal.

Counter Descartes’ trademark argument.

Answer 12

Some people are not monothiestic, therefore they do not have the idea of God, and this idea is not planted in our minds.
In contrast; maths is a universal truth, God is not.

Question 13

Empiricism on the idea of God.

Counter Descartes’ trademark argument.

Answer 13

Descartes argues that we cannot have the idea of infinite goodness, power or knowledge because we are finite.
However, Hume point out that we can easily take the basic idea of goodness, power or knowledge and amplify it.

Question 14

Are instincts innate?

Answer 14

When we are babies, we have instincts such as crying when hurt or suckling.
However, some could argue that this is only practical knowledge (know-how).
Whilst we cannot deny that we do have instincts when we are born, this is not factual knowledge.

Question 15

Are morals innate?

Answer 15

It my be that we have an innate sense of what is right and wrong. Moore’s yellow argument; the sensation of yellow is different to the description of light waves. This can be applied to morality, we can describe it physically but not the sensation of morality. Therefore morals are innate.
However, Hume says that we are not born with morals, just emotional faculties and upon having certain sense impressions, these may generate emotions and it is from these that we derive moral ideas.

Question 16

Are numbers innate?

Answer 16

Numbers are innate because we never have sense experience of them. We never truly experience two, only examples of two-ness.
However, an empiricist response to this is to say that we can acquire the concepts of different numbers by abstracting from experiencing collections of objects.

Question 17

Are universal concepts innate?

Answer 17

We never truly experience beauty, justice and other universal concepts. We acquire these concepts by observing the essential nature of them by using our minds and not our senses.
If tabula rasa is true then when we wouldn’t be able to recognise beautiful things.

Question 18

Explain Locke’s criticism of innate ideas being unnecessary.

Answer 18

Why would God or nature bother giving us eyes if we had the concept of colour already in us? Occham’s Razor would say that the simplest explanation is that we perceive colour with our eyes.

Question 19

Explain Locke’s criticism of innate ideas, that no ideas are universally held.

Answer 19

All humans have different upbringings and experiences and so have different ideas. If some ideas are held by all of humanity then these ideas cannot be derived from our experiences, they must be innate.
However, things considered universally held such as maths or morality are not held by children or idiots.

Question 20

Explain Locke’s criticism of the transparency of ideas.

Answer 20

If we did have innate ideas we would have perceived them because we should be able to perceive any ideas that we have. For any idea to be in our mind we must have been conscious of it at some point.

Question 21

How can we distinguish innate ideas from other ideas? (Locke and Leibniz)

Answer 21

An innate idea is having the capacity to learn it when older like geometry.
However Locke argues that everything must be ‘innate’ because at birth we have the capacity to learn the majority of things.
Leibniz counters Locke and says that we can distinguish innate between empirical because innate ideas are necessarily true.

Question 22

Explain Locke’s criticism of the reliance on the supernatural.

Answer 22

Many versions of innatism claim that innate ideas like mathematics and morality is placed by God. However, the concept of God is incoherent and all of our ideas can be explained naturally so there is no need to rely on God.

Question 23

What is foundationalism?

Answer 23

Empiricism is a form of foundationalism.
It is a theory of knowledge that claims that all our beliefs and knowledge have underpinning foundation (for empiricism this is senses).

Question 24

Why is scepticism a challenge for empiricism?

Answer 24

The foundation of empiricism is sense experience, however we cannot trust our senses.
As Descartes says we could be tricked by an evil demon who is causing all of our perceptions, we would have no way of knowing if what we were perceiving is really true, therefore the foundation of empiricism is flawed.

Question 25

Explain Hume’s fork.

Answer 25

All knowledge is either relations of ideas or matters of fact.
Relations of ideas are by reasoning (analytic truths)
Matters of fact are by experiencing how the world is (synthetic truths)

Question 26

What is inductive reasoning?

Answer 26

Associated with science and empiricism, looks at how the world works and generalises from this

Question 27

What is deductive reasoning?

Answer 27

Used in mathematics and logic, is associated with rationalism - from innate ideas, is possible to deduce must also be the case about the world.

Question 28

Explain the empiricist claim that there is no a priori knowledge.

Answer 28

We obtain all our knowledge - including mathematical - from knowledge via experience.
We can make observations of maths from the world such as things in pairs or threes.
The difference between mathematical truths and other empirical truths is that the evidence we have for them is more consistent as we do so by reasoning.

Question 29

Explain the empiricist claim that a priori knowledge does exist but tells us nothing about the world.

Answer 29

Analytic truths are true in the virtue of the meaning. Such as; No one can steal their own property. However, this tells me no new knowledge as it was already present in the knowledge I had, I am merely teasing out facts that I already knew.

Question 30

Can geometry provide us with new knowledge about the world?

Answer 30

Euclid’s Axiomatic system; set of necessary mathematic truths such as a circle has on line and every point has the same distance from the centre - through the use of reasoning we can make a large systematic body of truths which apply to the world such as constructing bridges and the properties of shapes that we have never experienced.

Question 31

Can algebra provide us with new knowledge about the world?

Answer 31

Plato; Mathematics works out the relationships between the various entities (numbers) that apply to the world we inhabit.
Empiricists; Mathematics are generalisations from experience.
Logicism; Mathematical truths are a clear example of a priori knowledge. We are able to generate truths in a way that is very different from empirical generalisations, using deduction rather than induction.

Question 32

According to Descartes, can rationalism generate knowledge beyond the mathematical and the analytic?

Answer 32

Cogito ergo sum - doubted everything until the only belief that couldn’t be doubted was that he existed. This means that the only thing we can be certain of is an a priori statement, and it tells us about something that exists so it is synthetic.
This means that it is possible to deduce further truths and from these build series of truths about the world. However, he created an issue with the evil demon theory. But by proving God’s existence with the trademark argument, Descartes claims that God wouldn’t deceive us so we can trust our senses.

Question 33

According to Plato, can rationalism generate knowledge beyond the mathematical and the analytic?

Answer 33

Theory of the forms - our souls are immortal and prior to existence we experienced the perfect forms of things and now we only remember parts of these, but we are born knowing them - such as beauty.
Plato argues that if you show a slave boy a smaller square within a larger square, he will innately know that the larger square has double the area of the smaller square without ever experiencing it before.

Question 34

According to Spinoza, can rationalism generate knowledge beyond the mathematical and the analytic?

Answer 34

All truths are necessary and nothing is contingent. Our minds are not powerful enough to see why everything is the way it is and humans cannot see that every part of the universe is connected. All truths in the world can be established through reasoning alone and all events are necessary but appear contingent because of our finite knowledge.