Part III: Epistemology

1. Part III: Epistemology Chapter 6: Is Knowledge Possible? Chapter 7: Does Science Tell Us the Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth?

2. Chapter 6: Is Knowledge Possible? • Epistemology – the study of knowledge (how we know) • Empiricism – theory that knowledge comes through experiencing with the senses • Rationalism– theory that reason is the source of knowledge • Skepticism – “to reflect on,” “consider,” or “examine”. Doubting or suspending judgment.

3. Empiricism • Tabula rasa – the idea that before sense experience, the human mind is a “empty tablet” or “blank slate” • A posteriori – “after experience”, the idea that we cannot know until have experience through the senses

4. Rationalism • Innate ideas – ideas that are built into the mind at birth • A priori – there is knowledge prior to or independent from experience

5. Skepticism • Common-sense skepticism – healthy skepticism that suspends judgment at one time or another • Methodical skepticism – used by philosophers and scientists to search for truth. Doubt hypothesis until it is tested to determine accuracy. • Absolute skepticism – doubts the very possiblity of knowledge. Advocated by Pyrrho of Elis (about 300 BCE.)

6. Sufi Mysticism • Sufism – an Islamic mystical movement which taught that direct and immediate experience of Allah is possible. • Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (1058) believed knowledge came through experience of intimate union or contact with the Divine

7. Deliverance from ErrorAl-Ghazali • Defines knowledge as that which is true and certain without any doubt of its truth • Believed that knowledge could not be reached through empiricism, rationalism, or skepticism • Al-Ghazali sought knowledge of the Divine, which he believed was found through mysticism, or experience of the Divine

8. Is Certainty Possible? • Is there absolute truth? • Direct realism – reality exists apart from human sensations, and senses put us directly in touch with reality • Indirect or representational realism – sensations represent physical reality. We are only directly in touch with our sensations of reality

9. Meditations I and IIRené Descartes • Attempts to support the certainty of knowledge obtained from science by proving that representational realism is correct • All sense-perceptions can be doubted, but one cannot doubt that he exists • “. . .physical objects are grasped, not by the senses or the power of having mental images, but by understanding alone.”

10. Empiricism and Limited Skepticism • Problem of induction – problem of discovering rational foundations for all the conclusions we draw based on experience • Analytic statements – how ideas are related and synthetic statements are about facts • Synthetic statements – statements about fact

11. An Enquiry Concerning Human UnderstandingDavid Hume • Analyzes the empiricist theory that everything we can know about the world is ultimately derived from our senses. • Questions the existence of firm foundations of knowledge other than customary and habitual associations of ideas • Hume says that all reasoning concerning matters of fact is founded on cause and effect • Cause and effect relies on the principle that “the future will resemble the past”, which can not be proven deductively or inductively

12. Should We Believe Beyond the Evidence? • Evidentialism – a statement should not be accepted as true unless it can be supported by good evidence • William James (1842-1910) advocated pragamatism • Pragmatic theory of truth – the basis of pragmatism, that some proposition p is true if and only if the beliefe that “p is true” works • Correspondence theory of truth – p is true if and only if p corresponds to the facts • Coherence theory of truth – p is true if and only if p is logically implied by q, where q is a true statement, and q in turn is logically implied by r, and so on

13. The Ethics of BeliefWilliam K. Clifford • Argues against the James’ ideas because of its denial of objectivity, reduction of truth to what one wants to believe, and relativity • Argues that “it is wrong to believe on insufficient evidence, or to nourish belief by suppressing doubts and avoiding investigation.”

14. The Will to BelieveWilliam James • Argues that an individual’s beliefs or understanding of the truth is a result of the choices they make between different truth claims or hypothesis • Options (the decision between 2 hypothesis) may be: • Living or dead: if it is living, then both hypothesis have some appeal • Forced or avoidable: one may be able to avoid having to make a choice • Momentous or trivial: it is trivial if the opportunity is not unique

15. Classical Indian Epistemology • The Indian philosopher Udayana combined the Vaisesika and Nyaya schools of philosophy into Naiyayika • Nyaya – examines the knowing subject, the object to be known, the known object, and the means of coming to know the object • Naiyayika – advanced Nyayatheory that correct causes of knowledge can be analyzed in four kinds: • perception • Inference • Comparison • Reliable testimony • Pramānas – causes for knowledge

16. Knowledge and RealityJohn M. Koller • Examines the means of knowledge • Perceptual knowledge is the true and determinate knowledge that comes from sensory data • Inference moves from perception to knowledge of something that has not been perceived • Comparison observes a similarity and draws a conclusion • Shabda – “word”, refers to knowledge of something from a reliable person

17. Knowledge and RealityJohn M. Koller • Nyaya syllogistic form for inferences • Yonder hill has fire • Because it has smoke • Whatever has smoke has fire, for example, a stove • Yonder hill has smoke such as is always accompanied by fire • Therefore yonder hill has fire

18. Feminist Epistemology: A Non Western Perspective • Feminist epistemology began as a critique of existing theories • Argues ways of knowing are not universal • “standpoint” epistemology – acknowledges that all knowing substantially involves the social and historical context of the knowers • Positivism – theory that modern science and its methods of empirical and experimental verification are the only sure guide to knowledge

19. The Project of Feminist EpistemologyUma Narayan • Critiques western feminist epistemology from an Indian feminist perspective • Feminist epistemology poses political problems for nonwestern feminists due to traditions • Positivism is not necessarily the main target of feminism for nonwestern feminists • It is not always advantageous to have the “epistemic advantage,” which is the ability to see a situation from more than one context