PHILOSOPHY

1. Definition epistemology: the study of knowledge

- The branch that focuses on how we know things about the world
- Two branches;
1) Definition rationalism: believes that our basis for knowledge of the world is
within our minds and reason.
- Plato and Descartes → some things we know independently of experience
and that our minds are the most reliable source of knowledge
- Innate knowledge → knowledge we know without experience, and without
being taught (exists within us)
- Priori Knowledge → knowledge we can work out to be true without
experiencing it
- Use reason and intuition to understand and access these forms of knowledge
→ Maths, logic, language, morality
- Use deduction (reasoning from one or more statements to reach logical
conclusion) and logic to arrive the truth
- Reason → foundation of knowledge
2) Definition empiricism: believes that our basis for knowledge of the world is
through senses
- Developed against the backdrop of the age of enlightenment and the
development of the scientific method (1800) → focus on science and
empirical evidence as a way of demonstrating proof about the way the world
is
- John Locke (1632 - 1704) and David Hume
- Induction (starting with evidence and inferring the truth) and scientific
method tlo arrive to statements about the way the world is
- Tabula rasa and posteriori knowledge
- Sense experience → foundation of knowledge
2. The realm of forms (Plato) = intelligible realm:
- We can’t get true knowledge in the world (sensible realm) so we use our mind to
“access” the intelligible realm (things never change and perfect versions/ideas/forms of
things exist)
- Example: apples, they are all different but we recognize them as apples, because of
their perfect shape of “apple-ness” which exists in the intelligible realm/ Realm of The
Forms
- These forms (one for everything existing) are only accessible through the mind, and
practicing philosophy
- Maths exists in this realm it never changes.
3. Allegory of the Cave (Plato)
- When the mind’s eye is fixed on objects illuminated by truth and reality, it
understands and knows them and its possession of intelligence is evident; but when it
is fixed on the twilight world of change and decay, it can only form opinions, its
vision is confused and its opinions shifting, and it seems to lack intelligence.”
- Allegory from his book The Republican
- He explains;
1. What is wrong with most people’s way of understanding the world. (1
perspective, not whole)
2. What Plato believes the correct way to understand the world is. (understand it
by yourself, not what others tell you, still you will never understand it
completely)
3. How to achieve the correct way. (not following others)
- Truth and reality - understanding and knowledge, possession of intelligence evidence
- Change and decay - opinions, lack intelligence, closed in others opinions
- The story is that prisoners are trapped with false impressions to show reality, such as
shadows portrayed by the fire, as they are looking toward the wall. They thought that
was everything as it was all they could see and were told it exited until one was
released, he saw the natural world and what shadows were from the sun and
understood that there was much more than from his bubble.
- He uses this allegory to portray that we can’t see the whole world we have to
investigate in order to gain true knowledge and not only our vision.
- The part that was wrong from the prisoners knowledge was that they knew a very
small portion and thought it was everything, they accepted what people made them
believed.
- To obtain knowledge right we have to look outside the box, investigate, know that not
everything told is right
- It shows that different views of the same thing - subjective
- Key takeaways
1. The world in which we live (sensible realm) changes all the time. So we can’t
have true and unchanging knowledge. Plato think this knowledge is - opinion,
belief, and imagination - as it is based on images and visible objects = it’s not
true knowledge
2. To obtain true knowledge of things we must use our minds/reason by training
in philosophy. So we can enter the - intelligible realm - this gives us true
knowledge of - unchanging things (maths and The Forms)
- Representation of each element in the cave
1. Prisoners - humans in the sensible world that don’t face reality
2. Shadows - perceptions of the ones who believe
3. Escaped prisoners - philosophers who seek true knowledge
4. Painful journey out of the cave - difficulties in accepting that there is much
more than we can observe and think we know
5. The world outside of the cave - normality
6. Objects and things outside the cave - changing society
7. Prisoner's rejection of the returned prisoner - ignorance, not wanting to accept
that there is much more than what they know
4. Extreme doubt
- Descartes:
- French Philosopher
- Knowledge obtained through experiences is unreliable
- Want firm foundation for it´s knowledge to rebuild into knowledge he is certain of →
get´s rid of previous unreliable knowledge, by using his reason to doubt his
pre-existing knowledge → could I be wrong?
- If he felt there was any reason to doubt something he ahd to ignore it
- Can´t rely on the knowledge
- Senses: unreliable → refracted, or mistaken → doubt all knowledge
- Dreams: believed it was true it wasn´t → can´t be 100% sure he is not dreaming know →
doubt if he is awake or not
- Mathematician/body → evil demon placing illusions in his mind? → can´t prove their
isn´t
- Be sure of and his foundation of knowledge
- “Cogito Ergo Sum” → “I think therefore I am”
5. Tabula Rasa
- John Locke → priori knowledge and innate ideas don´t exist
- The sould receives in its very first being, and brings into the world with it.
- He believes a test is to aske about children and idiots → children don´t have
complicated ideas such as maths and logic problems then innate ideas are rejected
- Posteriori knowledge (after the fact) and Tabula Rasa (blank slate)
- Tabula rasa: the mind to be, white paper of all characters is without ideas → it gains through
expierence
1) Primary qualities: independent of the person perceiving → solidity (weight), extension (size),
figure (shape), motion (does it move), number (amount) → depend on the thing itself, it is
like that
2) Secondary qualities: dependant upon the person perceiving it → color, smell, taste, feel when
touch, sound → can lead to disputes
- Sense impressions this qualities gave us → provide us with our ideas of the world
I. Simple ideas: simple sense impressions are the basic building blocks of all thoughts and ideas
→ this is green/hard/hot → truman - he is real
II. Complex ideas: combine simple ideas → truman - reality of his life → can gain knowledge of
abstract ideas
6. Explanation of the unobserved (Hume)
- Relations of ideas: true or false by definition, independent of any particular experience →
known by reason and deduction → priori
- Matters of facts: contradictory to relations of ideas → true or false based on empirical
evidence → posteriori → he believes in this one
- Mere operation of thoughts: our mind naturally and automatically associate ideas → not
innate or priori knowledge → understanding of the world limited to what we can observe and
expierence
- Hume´s theory: empriricism (senses and experiences), skepticism (questions the possibility of
knowledge and certainty, no certain knowledge of matters of facts), naturalism (not
supernatural), casualty (critque it)
- Missing shade of blue → self-criticsm if Lockes and Hume´s theory you need to experience to
gain knowledge