PHIL 2100 Chapter Notes - Chapter Chapter 4: Pareidolia, Bamboozled, Extrasensory Perception
Document Summary
Background information: we all rely on a large collection of very well-supported beliefs to inform our actions and choices. It consists of basic facts about everyday things, beliefs based on very good evidence and justified claims that we regard as common sense. If a claim conflicts with our background information, we have good reason to doubt it. We should proportion our belief to the evidence. It"s not reasonable to believe a claim when there is no good reason for doing so. Expert: someone who is more knowledgeable in a particular subject area or field than most are. More likely to be right because: they have access to more information on the subject than we do, they are better at judging that information than we are. Experts are familiar with the established facts and existing data in their field and with state of existing controversies in their field and they know how to evaluate that information properly.
