PHIL102 Lecture 10: Intro to Nozick's idea of skepticism
8 Feb 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Cartesian skepticism is motivated by skeptical alternatives to what we take to be the actual world. Sa if the world is a demon world p is false. Can it be ruled out that the world is not a demon world. Descartes standard for justification of beliefs is certainty (no possible doubt) Very high standard-> we have very little knowledge. Lower the standard= allow justification to be fallible-> justified beliefs can be false. But: we can have, in principle, more knowledge. Justification requirement was motivated by the possibility of accidentally true beliefs which do not count as knowledge: It is 11 am- a belief that happens to be true if i look at a non-worki(cid:374)g clock at the right ti(cid:373)e. but i do(cid:374) t know what time it is. If we require certainty for knowledge, there cannot be accidentally true beliefs: if no doubt is possible about it is 11 am then it must be true.
