01:830:101 Lecture Notes - Monism, Agnosticism, Highwayman

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: 01:830:101
• Professor: Professor Gonzalez

Document Summary

James distinguishes between skepticism, (which says we don"t know anything), empiricism, (which says that we can have knowledge but not be sure we have it), and absolutism, (which says we can have knowledge and know that we have it). In fact, the only certainty we will ever have is that we possess minds (consciousness). All our other beliefs are less than certain, so we should constantly reflect on them, in the hope of getting closer to the truth. But there is no concrete test of what is true. In philosophy and the rest of life, james points out, completely contrasting views have been held to be certain. He gives some examples of this (in philosophy, the disagreement between aristotle"s and hegel"s logic). He further points out that in the past, people"s certainty in religious belief has led them to persecute and tortures others. He says that this gives us even more reason to be suspicious of absolutism.