Epistemology Study Guide

One of his examples is the tower illusion and basically makes the argument that our perceptions of a tower from either a particular distance or point of view differ in the way it really is. He writes how we might conclude false things about the world by using our senses.

Global/Local Skepticism

1. Global- Someone who claims we have no knowledge of the external world
2. Local- is a skeptic one particular subject area

JTB (Justified True Belief) Analysis

1. S believes that p;
2. p is true;
3. S is justified in believing that p.
4. If I know that P, then p is certain
5. P is not certain
6. I don't know that p

Dreaming Skepticism- Skeptical argument making the point that we may be dreaming when we use our senses to conclude things. In which case, we may always be wrong.

Lehrer

Leher contends that refutations such as Moore's fail to answer the fundamental problem with knowledge claims, namely, that they need to show that they satisfy the justification requirement.

1. To know that p, one must be completely justified in believing that p
2. We are never completely justified in our beliefs,
3. Therefore, we do not have knowledge

Moore

1. If skepticism is true, we do not have knowledge of the external world
2. But we do have knowledge of the external world (hand example)
3. Therefore, skepticism is false

According to Moore, Skepticism is refuted by common sense. He uses his hands to justify this answer.

Wright

If there is a p problem about knowledge or reasonable belief that the external world exists then there is equally a problem with Moore's knowledge that he has a hand, even when the appearances are at their most compelling.

Moore's reply to this is that the there is a conviction in the skeptic's argument that carries the same conviction as his, when he uses his hand as an example.

1. Jones has just written an x on a piece of paper
2. Jones has just voted
3. An election is taking place

Perceptual Knowledge

1. Naive Realism is the common sense theory of perception. Naive realism holds that the view of the world that we derive from our senses is to be taken at face value.
2. Representationalism and Phenominalism say the immediate object of perception is a sense datum or sense impression-which cannot exist apart from our awareness of it. The phenominalists and representationalists differ over the relationships between sense data and the external world.

Bertrand Russell

1. Was a representational realist
2. He came up with the concept of the percept
3. The percept is a causal theory of perception in which mental events are caused by processes in the outside world impinging on the perceiver's body starting a chain reaction, ending with the percept
4. The process involves physics, physiology, and psychology

An example Russell uses to describe the percept is the following:

“When the light from the fixed star reaches me, I see the star as if it is night and I am looking in the right direction. The light started years ago probably many years ago but my reaction is primarily something that is happening now. When my eyes are open I see the star; when they are shut, I do not. (Russell 116)”

Basically, the light from the star probably started years ago but Russell. The star may no longer be there either, if the star died, its light would still be seen, but it wouldn't be a star anymore.

Eddington

Eddington argues that there are two ways of perceiving. There is the naive realism and the scientific understanding. The former is substantial, the latter is not. It takes into account atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons…etc.

W.T. Stace

1. Argues that realists, like Russell believe in a separate material world apart from sensations
2. All causality tells us is that there are regularities or experiences in the world
3. For Stace, concepts like atoms gravity, forces and the conservation of energy do not exist only sensations and the minds that perceive them exist
4. Everything else is a mental construction

The Problem of Induction

1. From experiences we assume the past will be like the future, but we are not justified in believing this
2. Deductive arguments are useless because they only contain information about the past and present, not the future

Scientific Method

Carl Hempel, a leading advocate of the deductive-nomological model, which holds scientific explanation as deductively valid arguments proceeding from general laws and initial conditions to the phenomena to be explained.

Confirmation

• H O If it rained, the street is wet
• O The street is wet
• Then H It rained. (it may be that someone hosed the street down)

In the scientific method, we are affirming the consequent, and this is a logical fallacy. In the case above, we see that raining is not a necessary condition for the streets to be wet.

Falsification

Popper: Rationality consists in trying to falsify universal theories, that is, attempting to refute bold theories. Popper accuses Marxism and Freudianism of being pseudo sciences because they fail to search for or take into account disconfirming evidence.

H O If light has mass it, then it will bend

• O Light did not bend
• H Therefore, light has no mass

We can use the example of Einstein's theory of relativity, which made the point that if light was bent by gravity as light traveled from a star to the earth then the theory would hold. If it did not, and it continues unaffected by the gravitational pull, the theory would fail.

Problem:

It is impossible to test a scientific hypothesis in isolation, because an empirical test of the hypothesis requires one or more background assumptions (also called auxiliary assumptions or auxiliary hypotheses)

1. If H and A, and A(2), and A(3), then O
   1. Not O
   2. Not H or Not A(1), Not A(2), Not A(3)

Basically, because a hypothesis relies on auxiliary assumptions, then the hypothesis is never conclusive.

Progressivist View: Lakatos

According to Lakatos, in the place of the criterion of falsification, he developed a notion of scientific progress. That is, a research program is scientific if it leads to fruitful and interesting further projects. It need not be a true theory, only a challenging and progressive one. If it fails to generate new experiments, and projects then it is degenerate.

Pessimist: Feyerabhen

Argues that science contains no special, let alone superior method to other disciplines and that its high position in our society is fraud. There should be a separation of state and science just as there is a separation of state and religion.