PHIL 1F91 Chapter Notes -Direct And Indirect Realism, Empiricism, A Priori And A Posteriori

• School: Brock University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 1F91
• Professor: David Hayes

Document Summary

Classical definition of knowledge: three necessary conditions: The major theories of knowledge: skepticism, empiricism, rationalism. We know something if we can justify it through our senses. Arguments in favor of empiricism: all knowledge is justified through empirical beliefs, basic empirical beliefs are linked to the world around us, supported by the natural sciences. Empirical enumerative inductive arguments require not only our observations, but also predictions about those observations: the principle of uniformity in nature asserts that nature"s past and present realities support future predictions. Empirical enumerative inductive arguments require not only our observations, but also predictions about those observations. 19/04/2012: the principle of uniformity in nature asserts that nature"s past and present realities support future predictions. Justification takes place prior to consulting empirical evidence. Justification requires that we refer to our experiences of the world. Arguments in favor of rationalism: moral knowledge is justified based on a priorireasoning, genuine belief is unchanging, making rationalism less susceptible to skepticism.