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Why is Socrates’ life important?. How do I Know ?. Love of Wisdom: Triple A Set of Tools. Analysis Break down Assessment: Coherent, Complete, Correct? Argument The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.” – Joseph Joubert.
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Love of Wisdom: Triple A Set of Tools • Analysis • Break down • Assessment: • Coherent, Complete, Correct? • Argument • The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.” – Joseph Joubert
How many beliefs do you hold? “Man is what he believes.” -- Anton Chekov
Two parts of a Belief Objective : Content of the Proposition Subjective: the mental state holding a Proposition Belief leads to action I desire that… I spend time editing this slide I believe someone … Belief+Desire = Action
How do we know? Why do we try to know…?
Believing is an Activity • Subject • Object • What is the goal of a belief? What are you trying to attain?
We want our beliefs to be True • Belief => Knowledge (or a properly justified true belief) • Knowledge => Truth “To know something is to know it is true”
Role of Skepticism: Why do we have the beliefs that we hold? By doubting we come at truth. Mmmmm? • We can never know. OR • True knowledge is impossible. But how can you say that?
Source Skepticism Beliefs • Why do we have any beliefs that we hold? • Beliefs about: • The past • The present • The future • I believe that Plato taught Aristotle • I believe that my Mom is at home while I’m at school. • I believe that America will remain a democracy.
Sources of Belief • How do we know that sense experience is ever reliable? • Circular Reasoning! • My Memory • Testimony of others • My sense experience • Skeptic asks: • How do you know that human memory is ever reliable? • How do you know that others’ testimonies are reliable
How do we know? • Epistemology: the study of how we know what we know • Empiricism • Locke, Hume “No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience” – John Locke
Rationalism: • Cause and effect • Passage of time • Spatial awareness • If A is greater than B and B is greater than C, then A is greater than C. • Descartes
Evidentialism “It is wrong for anyone, anywhere, to believe anything without sufficient evidence. This is literally true always.” ?
Belief Conservation Principle • For any proposition P: • If taking a certain cognitive stance toward P would require rejecting or doubting a vast number of current beliefs, and • You have no independent reason to reject or doubt all those other beliefs, and • You have no compelling reason to take up that cognitive stance toward P… • Then it is more rational for you not to take that cognitive stance toward P.
Philosophy is the love of wisdom and the endeavor to attain it • You are as much a real person as you are deep. As with the depths of a diamond, the interior is twice as important as the surface. There are people who are all façade, like a house left unfinished when the funds run out. They have the entrance of a palace but the inner rooms of a cottage. • The Art of Worldly Wisdom, BalthasarGracian, 17th c