Epistemology

1. Epistemology Ms. Krall

2. Bell Ringer Exercise… • 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? • Agenda and Objective: Through notes and discussion students will define Epistemology.

3. Exercise..The Case of Farmer Brown

4. 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 doesn’t 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.

5. 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?

6. 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?

7. 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???

8. Review: The 6 Mistakes We Make in Thinking (Kida, 2007)Remember these???

9. 1. We prefer stories to statistics. • Skepticism (Scepticism) = Don’t believe everything you think! OR Which one would you believe?

10. 2. We seek to confirm, not question, our ideas. We see what we want to see But is this professional?

11. 3. We rarely appreciate the role of chance and coincidence. Could this be a coincidence? Yes.

12. 4. We sometimes misperceive the world around us. Is this a face on Mars!? Or a problem with our focus?

13. 5. We tend to oversimplify our thinking. Is Hillary Orwellian? Is Bush a Dunce? The truth is probably more complex.

14. 6. Our memories are often inaccurate. Hypnotists can do it by mistake! Researchers are able to purposely create false memories.

15. Questions to Think about!

16. 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?

17. 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

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

19. 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.

20. Skepticism

21. Types of Skepticism • Skepticism: The view that we don’t have any knowledge. • “Nobody knows anything. Not even me. I don’t even ‘know’ that nobody knows anything. But it’s 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)

22. 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.

23. 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

24. Activity • Answer the following question…”Who am I?” • Make a list! • Next, make a list of everything that you THINK you are (except anything physical) • Do you recognize yourself?

25. Can you trust your senses?

26. 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

27. Meditations- The Argument • According to Descartes, we can’t know something unless we are so absolutely certain that it is true and that we can’t doubt it. • But if we accepted this, we would be forced to conclude that we know nothing at all, or almost nothing • It’s just wrong to say that we don’t know something just because we can doubt that it’s true, or just because it’s possible that it’s false: this isn’t 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 don’t mean to indicate that I can’t possibly be wrong about where I parked my car, even if it turns out that I’m a brain in a vat. So to know something isn’t to be certain about it. • So the Cartesian analysis of knowledge doesn’t capture what we typically mean by ‘knowledge.’

28. Bell Ringer Review! • What are the three theories of knowledge? • What are the two types of skepticism?

29. 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.

30. Descartes Reading… • Take 10 minutes and read an excerpt for the Meditations. • Answer the questions provided.

31. 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?

32. 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?

33. 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.

34. " 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!

35. 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.

36. 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.)

37. I think therefore I am???

40. 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.

41. 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.

42. Brain in a vat? • As you read identify • The “Brain in a Vat” hypothesis • The relationship to Skepticism • What do you think?

43. 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?

44. Welcome Back • Bell Ringer…read 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.

45. 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 don’t have to look at any cars to determine the claim is true.) • Ex. All Triangles have three sides (don’t have to see or touch any particular triangle to know its true.)

46. 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

47. 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

48. 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.)

49. 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

50. 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.