PHI 3170 Lecture Notes - Descriptive Knowledge, Necessity And Sufficiency, If And Only If
3 Dec 2013
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Document Summary
Sept. 19, 2013: recapitulation: contemporary epistemology dominated by conditions project: attempt to identify the necessary and sufficient conditions for knowledge. 1. 2 - naturalistic approach (quine, kornblith, stroud) conceived as empirical: scientific study: how human organism acquires knowledge about its environment; thus about the necessary conditions for human organism to know things. 1. 3 transcendental approach: the conditions of knowledge are epistemic they. Reflect the structure of the cognitive apparatus (allison) and are available only through transcendental" analysis. Analysis need not preclude circularity if concept primitive. (note analytic assumption: jointly necessary and sufficient conditions iff analyzed concept). Being a mammal is a necessary condition for being a cat. Four right angle is a necessary condition for being a square. Water is a necessary condition for life. Light is a necessary condition for sight. Three angles is a necessary condition for being a triangle. Darkness is a necessary condition for night. Hatching from an egg is a necessary condition for being a reptile.
