PHILO-120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Rationality, Empirical Evidence
12 Aug 2020
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The answer to this question represents your reasons or arguments that, ideally, support the truth of your belief. Irrational answer: no reason, i just do believe. Ideally, one can give an account of the relevant reasons, but the inability to do so does not necessarily mean such reasons are absent. Socratic self-examination: we can question ourselves about why we believe what we do. Scientific claims: justified by careful sense observation and experimentation. Only applicable to material realities, since the senses are tied to the physical realm. A good hypothesis should always be testable/falsifiable. Philosophical claims: justified by rational reflection on and careful analysis of human experience. Religious claims: justified by an appeal to divine revelation or some inspired text. Good reasons do not always guarantee truth. Reasons can be evaluated even in the absence of truth, e. g. , parking lot. Principle of belief-management: to pursue and maintain true beliefs and to avoid and reject false beliefs.
