PHIL 2020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Critical Thinking, Alternative Facts, Omnipotence

• School: University of Georgia
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 2020
• Professor: Sean Meslar

Document Summary

If (cid:455)ou gi(cid:448)e a sou(cid:374)d a(cid:396)gu(cid:373)e(cid:374)t, a(cid:374)d so(cid:373)eo(cid:374)e else disag(cid:396)ees, (cid:272)iti(cid:374)g (cid:862)alte(cid:396)(cid:374)ati(cid:448)e fa(cid:272)ts(cid:863), (cid:455)ou (cid:373)a(cid:455) not be able to resolve the conflict. Skepticism: rene descartes (1596-1650) gave one of the more memorable skeptical scenarios in philosophy when he assumed that an evil, omnipotent demon had adopted deception as its sole goal. Skepticism and deduction: most people (cid:449)ho (cid:396)ead des(cid:272)a(cid:396)tes a(cid:396)e(cid:374)(cid:859)t (cid:272)o(cid:374)(cid:448)i(cid:374)(cid:272)ed (cid:271)(cid:455) his atte(cid:373)pts to sol(cid:448)e the skepti(cid:272)al problem he creates. Instead many people object that he sets the bar for knowledge too high: as a(cid:374) alte(cid:396)(cid:374)ati(cid:448)e, (cid:373)a(cid:374)(cid:455) suggest that outla(cid:374)dish skepti(cid:272)al s(cid:272)e(cid:374)a(cid:396)ios a(cid:396)e(cid:374)(cid:859)t sig(cid:374)ifi(cid:272)a(cid:374)t e(cid:374)ough possibilities to trouble our claims to knowledge. If we abandon deduction as the source of our knowledge, then it seems we have no choice but to appeal to induction. Unit 2: lecture 5: unfortunately, there are persuasive skeptical arguments against inductive knowledge as well; David hume (1711-1776) provides the most prominent historical example of such an argument.