Charting the Terrain of Knowledge-1 Epistemology– the area of philosophy that deals with questions concerning knowledge and that considers various theories of knowledge

Charting the Terrain of Knowledge-2 Types of knowledge Knowledge by acquaintance Competence knowledge Propositional knowledge Knowledge as true justified belief

The Issue of Reason and Experience Analytic statements Synthetic statements A priori knowledge A posteriori knowledge

Three Epistemological Questions Is it possible to have knowledge at all? Does reason provide us with knowledge of the world independently of experience? Does our knowledge represent reality as it really is?

Perspectives on Knowledge Skepticism Rationalism Empiricism Constructivism Relativism

Early Greek Skeptics Cratylus Pyrrho Carneades

René Descartes The quest for certainty Methodological skepticism Meditations on First Philosophy

Meditations on First Philosophy Meditation I Doubting of senses The possibility of a "malicious demon" Radical doubt (methodological skepticism) Meditation II One point of certainty "I am, I exist” or cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore, I am)

David Hume Empiricism Principle of induction Uniformity of nature

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding-1 Cause and effect questioned constantly conjoined events Uniformity of nature questioned Appealing to past experience to justify the principle of induction is circular

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding-2 We cannot know that there is an external world impressions are always internal to our experience Hume does not deny that the external world exists Fundamental beliefs rest on psychological habits, beyond the proof of logic and experience

Three Anchor Points of Rationalism Reason is the primary or most superior source of knowledge about reality Sense experience is an unreliable and inadequate route to knowledge The fundamental truths about the world can be known a priori: They are either innate or self-evident to our minds

The Rationalist Perspective on Epistemology Knowledge is possible Only through reason can knowledge be obtained Beliefs based on reason represent reality

Socrates on Epistemology We can distinguish true from false Standards for distinguishing true from false are based on the soul Rational knowledge gives us an adequate picture of the world

Plato on Epistemology Difference between knowledge and opinion must be rationally justified Agrees with Socrates that reason is able to provide knowledge

Phaedo Discusses perfect Justice, Beauty, Goodness, and Equality We have never seen these things, yet we know they exist Knowledge of perfect things must be innate Doctrine of recollection

Plato on Universals Universals or Forms Universals are unchanging; experiential reality is in flux Phaedo

René Descartes Methodological doubt One point of certainty: "I am, I exist" or cogito ergo sum Something cannot arise from nothing, and there must be at least as much reality in the cause as in the effect

Descartes’ Meditation III Innate ideas Idea of a perfect God Because Descartes is not perfect, the source of the idea of God must be God

Three Anchor Points of Empiricism The only source of genuine knowledge is sense experience Reason is an unreliable and inadequate route to knowledge unless it is grounded in sense experience There is no evidence of innate ideas within the mind that are known apart from experience

John Locke’s Perspective on Epistemology Knowledge is possible Simple ideas (ideas of sensation, ideas of reflection) Complex ideas Reason not sufficient for knowledge of the world Knowledge represents reality primary qualities (objective) secondary qualities (subjective)

George Berkeley on the Representation of Reality Berkeley thought Locke's representative realism was dangerous Berkeley thought that even Locke's primary qualities were subjective

David Hume Radical empiricist An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding Huge gulf between reason and the world Reason can only tell us about the relationship between our own ideas