Epistemology

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Epistemology

• Ms. Krall

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Bell Ringer Exercise

• Agenda and Objective Through notes and
  discussion students will define Epistemology.

• What is the name you give to this object in your
  hand?
• How do you know that the object in your hand
  really exists and you are not imagining it?
• What evidence shows that what you know about this
  object is in fact the truth?
• How have you come to know what you claim to know?
• How do you know what absolute truth is?

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Exercise..The Case of Farmer Brown
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• Farmer Brown is concerned about his prized cow,
  Daisy. In fact, he is so concerned that when his
  dairyman tells him that Daisy is in the field
  happily grazing, he says he needs to know for
  certain. He doesnt want just to have a 99 per
  cent idea that Daisy is safe, he wants to be able
  to say that he knows Daisy is okay.

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• Farmer Brown goes out into the field and standing
  by the gate sees in the distance, behind some
  trees, a white and black shape that he recognizes
  as his favorite cow. He goes back to the dairy
  and tells his friend that he knows Daisy is in
  the field.
• At this point, does Farmer Brown really know it?

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• The dairyman says he will check too, and goes to
  the field. There he finds daisy, having a nap in
  a hollow, behind a bush, well out of sight of the
  gate. He also spots a large piece of black and
  white paper that has got caught in a tree.
• Daisy is in the field, as Farmer Brown thought.
  But was he right to say he knew she was?
•  

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Definition.

• is the study of the questions "What is
  knowledge?" And "Do I have any?
• To understand knowledge, or to know something it
  must comprise of three things..

• Belief (he believed it to be the case)
• Justified (he had a good reason to believe it was
  the case)
• True (it is actually the case)
• Is this enough???

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Review The 6 Mistakes We Make in Thinking
(Kida, 2007)Remember these???
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1. We prefer stories to statistics.

• Skepticism (Scepticism) Dont believe
  everything you think!

OR
Which one would you believe?
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• 2. We seek to confirm, not question, our ideas.

We see what we want to see
But is this professional?
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• 3. We rarely appreciate the role of chance and
  coincidence.

Could this be a coincidence?
Yes.
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• 4. We sometimes misperceive the world around us.

Is this a face on Mars!?
Or a problem with our focus?
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• 5. We tend to oversimplify our thinking.

Is Hillary Orwellian?
Is Bush a Dunce?
The truth is probably more complex.
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• 6. Our memories are often inaccurate.

Hypnotists can do it by mistake!
Researchers are able to purposely create false
memories.
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Questions to Think about!
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Good Morning!

• Bell Ringer
• Agenda and Objective, Through a worksheet and
  reading, students will understand the theory of
  skepticism

• Define Epistemology
• What are 6 common mistakes we use when thinking?

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The Three theories of Knowledge

• Skepticism (Scepticism)

• No existing justification that can show that our
  beliefs are true, therefore we know nothing.
• All we have are beliefs but no knowledge

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Second Theory

• Empiricism

• Beliefs can be justified through our senses
  (sight, hearing, feeling)
• Knowledge can be proven through biology,
  chemistry, and physics.

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Third Theory

• Rationalism

• Beliefs can be justified by rational evidence.
• Math and Logic the most reliable knowledge.

• The most important truths about reality are
  obtained by means of the intellect (the mind)
  alone, without relying at all upon the senses.

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Skepticism
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Types of Skepticism

• Skepticism The view that we dont have any
  knowledge.
• Nobody knows anything. Not even me. I dont
  even know that nobody knows anything. But its
  true.

• Global Skepticism-The doctrine that absolute
  knowledge is impossible.
• Local Skepticism- one cannot have knowledge
  about certain beliefs or certain ways of
  acquiring beliefs (ex. God)

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Challenging Global SkepticismPhilosophy of Rene
Descartes

• live during the first half of the Seventeenth
  Century (1596 1649).
• was a mathematical genius. Developed the x y
  graphing grid still used today (the Cartesian
  point system).
• wanted to find the same certainty in philosophy
  that he found in mathematics.

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Descartes

• Considered the first Modern Philosopher
• First to address the concept of skepticism
• Discusses the notion of knowledge and existence
  through a series of essays called Meditations

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Activity

• Answer the following questionWho am I?
• Make a list!

• Next, make a list of everything that you THINK
  you are (except anything physical)
• Do you recognize yourself?

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Can you trust your senses?
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The Problem

• How can I have knowledge of anything, and which
  are the things I know?
• Are Those beliefs about which we're less certain
  of are less likely to count as knowledge than
  those we're more certain of? Are there any
  beliefs we're absolutely certain of?
• Tackles the answer in his Meditations

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Meditations- The Argument

• According to Descartes, we cant know something
  unless we are so absolutely certain that it is
  true and that we cant doubt it.
• But if we accepted this, we would be forced to
  conclude that we know nothing at all, or almost
  nothing

• Its just wrong to say that we dont know
  something just because we can doubt that its
  true, or just because its possible that its
  false this isnt what we mean by the term
  know.
• For example, when one say I know where I parked
  my car, because I remember doing it. I dont
  mean to indicate that I cant possibly be wrong
  about where I parked my car, even if it turns out
  that Im a brain in a vat. So to know something
  isnt to be certain about it.
• So the Cartesian analysis of knowledge doesnt
  capture what we typically mean by knowledge.

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Bell Ringer Review!

• What are the three theories of knowledge?

• What are the two types of skepticism?

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Method of Doubt

• Test beliefs according to their "doubtability."
• If I can doubt one belief, but I cannot doubt
  another, then surely my belief in the second is
  firmer than my belief in the first.

• For the moment, Descartes recommends that a
  person admit only those truths (if any) which
  he/she can immediately perceive clearly and
  distinctly.

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Descartes Reading

• Take 10 minutes and read an excerpt for the
  Meditations.

• Answer the questions provided.

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The Dream Argument

• To show that it is possible to doubt what our
  sense tells us Descartes discusses the concept of
  dreams vs. reality.

• He argues that beliefs based on what you see,
  feel, and hear are not indubitable (absolutely
  certain)
• Are we dreaming? Or is an evil genius out there
  controlling and deceiving us?

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The dream argument.

• Cogito, ergo, sum. I think therefore, I am
  from Descartes Discourse on Method.
• In order for the evil genius to deceive him,
  Descartes must exist because something that does
  not exist cannot be deceived.
• But, what is Descartes, i.e. what type of being
  is he?

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ON THE EVIL GENIUS HYPOTHESIS

• Don't misunderstand Descartes doesn't believe
  that there is an evil demon, he rather considers
  whether he has any evidence which would enable
  him to prove that there is not one.
• The evil demon hypothesis is one way to call into
  question the justification of beliefs which
  derive from the senses it is a potential
  defeater for many of the things we think we
  know.

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" Cogito Ergo Sum." (I think therefore I am.)

• Question What is this thing (ME) whom we know to
  exist? Am I my body? Not in the demon world,
  where I still exist...
• I am not more than a thing which thinks, that is
  to say a mind or a soul, or an understanding, or
  a reason . . . . I am . . . a real thing and
  really exist but what thing? I have answered
  A thing which thinks
• In fact, what I know is that I am a thing that
  has IDEAS!

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So in conclusion!

• No matter how many skeptical challenges are
  raised there is at least one fragment of genuine
  human knowledge my perfect certainty of my own
  existence.
• From this starting-point, Descartes supposed, it
  is possible to achieve indubitable knowledge
  (absolute certain) of many other propositions as
  well.

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Therefore after reflected well and carefully
examined all things, we must come to the definite
conclusion that this proposition I am, I exist,
is necessarily true each time I pronounce it.

• I can know that I exist as long as I think!
• " Cogito Ergo Sum." (I think therefore I am.)

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I think therefore I am???
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Descartes Four Rules

• Never accept anything except for clear and
  distinct ideas.
• Divide each problem into as many parts as are
  needed to solve it.
• Order your thoughts from the simple to the
  complex.
• Always check thoroughly for oversights.

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So to conclude

• Descartes and Skepticism if we can find a
  foundation for our belief system which is both
• 1) self evidently true, and2) sufficiently
  powerful to enable us to deduce that our
  perceptual beliefs are true, THEN we could escape
  the skeptical argument.

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Brain in a vat?

• As you read identify
• The Brain in a Vat hypothesis
• The relationship to Skepticism
• What do you think?

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Challenge Descartes?

• What does Zen mean?
• What does Interdependence mean?
• Remember your list again (who am I?)..where did
  you develop this outlook?
• How are the qualities you connect with yourself
  linked to ideas or perceptions of others outside
  yourself?

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Welcome Back

• Bell Ringerread the article based on Zen. How
  does this challenge Descartes notion of I or
  separate self?
• What does perception mean?

• Agenda and objectives Through notes, students
  will finish identifying the three theories of
  knowledge and apply their understanding through a
  movie critique.

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No. 2--Rationalism

• belief that some ideas or concepts are
  independent of experience and that some truth is
  known by reason alone
• A priori Knowledge- justification that can take
  place prior to consulting any empirical evidence
• You know something a priori if you know it
  without first seeing, touching, or hearing
  anything in particular.
• Ex. All red cars are colored cars ( you dont
  have to look at any cars to determine the claim
  is true.)
• Ex. All Triangles have three sides (dont have to
  see or touch any particular triangle to know its
  true.)

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No.3 Empiricism

• school that maintains that, ultimately, all
  knowledge is rooted in sense experience.
• There are no synthetic a priori truths

• Two Kinds of Experience
• Sensation
• Vision
• Hearing
• Smell
• Taste
• Touch
• Reflection

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Empiricists Method

• Analyze complex ideas into simple ideas
• Find origins of simple ideas in experience
• Content of the idea lies in simple impression
  from which it comes

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John Locke

• Science progresses through observation and
  experimentation.
• maintained all knowledge was gained in this way
• everything we know is derived from experience
• Tabula Rasa
• image for the human mind, literally it means
  blank slate.

• maintained there are no innate ideas, i. e. ideas
  with which people are born, (e.g. Descartes
  innate idea of perfection.)

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David Hume

• anything not given in experience is to be
  discarded
• therefore there is no God, self, causation,
  inductive knowledge
• I am nothing but a bundle of perceptions
• miracles violations of laws of nature

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Plato and Descartes

• Plato- knowledge is innate, comes from within.
• Simply made statements without trying to back up
  them up with science or facts

• Descartes- knowledge is based upon his method of
  systematic doubt.
• Using reason, answers could be found outside
• Person must have absolute certainty of something
  before it can be known.

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Plato (428-348)

• Student of Socrates
• Founded the Academy
• Created a system to explain all major
  philosophical issues.
• Wrote The Republic

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The Republic

• Referred to as the Polity (constitutional
  government of the city.)
• Plot centers around 6 men meeting in a house of a
  rich merchant.
• Socrates is primary character

• Meeting discusses questions on justice, rule,
  obedience, art, and education.
• One major concept discussed is the Allegory of
  the Cave
• Is divided into ten chapters and is regarded as a
  philosophical classic.

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Premise to Allegory of the Cave

• Socrates explains two existing levels of reality,
  known as the Theory of Forms
• To Sum up, according to Plato, the world
  accessible through reflection is more real than
  the world we sense around us.

• One of becoming (appearance found through our
  senses)
• One of being (reality attainable only through
  contemplation)

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Welcome Back!

• Bell Ringer Review your answers from Descartes
  Meditations with your neighbor.

• Agenda and Objective Through notes and
  discussion, students will identify the three
  major theories of epistemology.