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Epistemology

The

Study of
Knowledge
Looks at how
people can know
and be certain of
what they know
2 key questions

What is knowledge?
What does it mean to
know?

Nature and Aims of


Epistemology

We ask epistemological
questions every day

How do you know that?


Is that a fact?
Are you sure?

These questions explore the


nature of knowledge

Nature and Aims cont


Explores the nature, scope,
limits and origins of human
knowledge
All fields of philosophy involve
epistemological questions
therefore it is called a pillar of
philosophy

The philosophers approach

Probe the foundation of


knowledge, relation between
truth and knowledge and
roles played by the senses in
acquiring knowledge by
questioning.

The Two Branches

Rationalism

Reason
Believe knowledge
comes from human
ability to reason.
Reason enables
humans to know
things the senses
dont reveal and is
the primary source of
knowledge.
Plato and Descartes

Empiricism

Sensory
Experience
Knowledge
primarily comes
from evidence
presented through
sensory experience.
Aristotle and Locke

Kinds of Knowledge - Kant

A Priori knowledge

Gained before
sense experience
Does not depend on
sense experience
but mental ability to
reason.
Innate
Ie) math
Rationalists

A Posteriori

Knowledge gained
with sense
experience
Depends on the
evidence presented
by the senses
Empiricists

What Philosophers have


Said

Confucius

To realize that you know something when


you do, and to realize that you do not when
you do not this then is knowledge.
Real knowledge is to know the extent of
ones ignorance
Clearly he believes that wise people do not
claim to know what they dont and
recognize the extent of the knowledge
Believed acquiring knowledge is a life long
process

Plato Mind as an Aviary

Our mind is an Aviary

Minds are empty but each piece of


knowledge is like grasping and
capturing a bird until it is a beautiful
and colourful place.
Better to gain this through reason to
reveal knowledge because knowledge
from senses can break down
Only through reason can we gain
understanding of the eternal,
unchanging and unseen world of
forms.

Plato - Aviary

The forms are innate and


learning simply means we
are remembering them. The
senses help us to do this.
This idea occupied western
philosophers for the next
2000 years.

Rene Descartes
17th c. Rationalist
Begins with doubt uses this doubt as a
tool to discover truth rather than accepting
what has been presented
Looking for a solid
foundation for knowledge

Doubting the
Senses
Descartes dismissal of Empiricism
all that I have hitherto received as
the most true and assured I have
from or by the senses. Now, I have
sometimes found that these senses
are deceptive; and it is wise never
to rely entirely on those who have
deceived us once.

Ever had this happen?

How often it has happened that I dreamed at


night that I was by the fire, though I was quite
naked in my bed!...I am reminded of having
been deceived by similar illusions while sleeping;
and, lingering on this thought, I see so clearly
that there is a certain index at all by which
wakefulness can be clearly distinguished from
sleep, that I am quite amazed and my
amazement is such that it is almost capable of
persuading me that I am dreaming right now.

I am, I exist
If you can say I am, I exist
than you must
Cogito ergo sum I think, I am.
St. Augustine had come to a similar
conclusion For if I am mistaken, I exist
but using a different approach and left it
This gave Descartes a starting point on
which to rebuild his knowledge
Because doubting is thinking Descartes
also knows that he is a thinking thing

Criticism

Some critics argue that to prove thought


does not prove the existence of anything
beyond the thought itself

So there are thoughts floating around without


owners????

Cartesian
Based on the philosophy of Descartes
Cartesian philosophers or ideas are those
that look to the ideas of Descartes
Ie) Cartesian Dualism the idea of
Descartes that the mind and brain are
separate entities

John Locke
Empiricist
Mind is a blank slate at birth
Knowledge is added through sensory
experience
Ideas are a byproduct of sensory
experience

Immanuel Kant

Built on theories of Descartes Rationalism and


Lockes Empiricism
Focused on the way we process ideas
Unity of consciousness persons thoughts,
beliefs, fears etc are unified in ones own mind
and no one elses.
Knowledge, whether result of reason or sense
perception, is unified by the human mind
Synthesizing innate ideas and sensory experience
into a single consciousness is a mental activity
that must occur before anything is known

Kant cont
Ideas shook the foundations of
epistemology by focusing on the need for
both reason and sensory experience.
Reason provides structure for sensory
experience
Very basically put
Sensory experience + reason =
knowledge.

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