Philosophy 2203E Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Empiricism, Antoine Lavoisier, Phlogiston Theory
3 Oct 2016
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One of the basic facts of experience, motivating scientific enquiry, is the existence of patterns or regularities in what we observe. Matters of fact vs. relations of ideas. Though there never were a circle or triangle in nature, the truths demonstrated by euclid would for ever retain their certainty & evidence" (more on page 219) The synthetic a priori (known independently before experience) The science of mathematics presents the most brilliant example of how pure reason may successfully enlarge its domain without the aid of experience". [n]o matter how long i analyze my concept [of seven & five] i will still not find twelve in it . If logic ever discusses the truth of factual sentences it does so only conditionally, somewhat as follows: if such-&-such a sentence is true, then such-&-such another sentence is true. Logic itself does not decide whether the first sentence is true, but surrenders that question to one or the other of the empirical sciences".
