Questions tagged [epistemology]
Epistemology is the study of knowledge, acquisition thereof, and the justification of belief in a given claim.
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Fallacy of the Devil You Know
I just made up that name for the fallacy, but I'm wondering if there is a more common term for it. The fallacy is basically inferring from an inconclusive set of evidence to a particular explanation ...
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Question about effect
There is an order to the Universe we live in.
Roughly speaking, little things affect big things. Not the other way round.
This is something you already know: particle physics underlies nuclear and ...
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Do some philosophers-of-mathematics give priorities to different epistemologies of math, rather than (over)committing to one epistemology?
Take Kant and Gödel, for example. Kant was neither just an intuitionist nor just a formalist, nor even absolutely a non-realist (the forms of space and time are, after all, empirically real and ...
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Does the incomputability of kolmogorov complexity imply that we will never have a final theory of everything?
The Kolmogorov Complexity is the size of the simplest program that produces a specific output. By the Curry-Howard Correspondence, "programs" are isomorphic to "axiomatic systems" ...
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What does "p is true for S at t" mean?
In Alvin Goldman's article "What Is Justified Belief", what does "p is true for S at t" mean?
where p is a proposition, S is a person and t is time.
More specifically, how is it ...
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What did Hegel meant when he said that the universal continually engenders itself while maintaining its identity throughout the process?
The patriotic sentiment acquires its specifically determined content from the various members of the organism of the state. This organism is the development of the Idea to its differences and their ...
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Is there a difference between believing something and behaving as if it were true?
To clarify, I mean without deception. In other words, if something seems plausible to me, and I decide to act on it as though it were true while recognizing that I could be mistaken, do I believe it?
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If something keeps happening, is it always better evidence?
Suppose that you get a prank call, not once but 100 times. Is their frequency good reason to think that the evidence they have been faked (it's someone else) is less convincing and/or the evidence ...
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Logic of reflective equilibrium
Reflective equilibrium is the simple but compelling concept that a person reflects on conflicts between different beliefs that they hold, and revises their beliefs to reduce the conflicts, or to ...
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Is philosophy about the resolution of mental conflict and disunity?
Consider the following "psychological" take on what philosophy is about.
To do philosophy means:
To have disorder in your mind: conflict between one idea and another, or insufficient ...
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Are there objective rational standards?
Given a certain piece of evidence, what should one believe? Given a certain moral proposition, should one think it is right or wrong?
What is the fundamental difference between these oughts? Something ...
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Circular reasoning about the existence of other minds
If I use the IBE argument to justify my belief in the existence of other minds, but I don't know how the argument reached its conclusion, can I just trust the experts who formulated the argument or ...
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What differences and relationships are between "innate ideas" and "presuppositions of knowledge"?
p149 of Section "Rationalism and Empiricism" in Big Questions by Solomon talkss about "innate ideas":
One of the main points of debate between the rationalists and the empiricists�...
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Is philosophical truth always necessary truth?
p147 of Section "Two Kinds of Truth" in Big Questions by Solomon says:
Perhaps the statement "the Forms are most real" is defensible through pure
thinking and without regard for ...
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The deception clause in lying
What if I am asked a question, and respond with an untruth I know is untrue, and I don't really care if I am believed, but definitely don't want to be found out (I don't want anyone to know Ive ...
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Clarifying the Role of Values in Identifying Misinformation - Seeking Insights
I've been grappling with a question that I believe is pivotal in our ever-evolving information landscape. Specifically, I'm curious about the circumstances under which values can justifiably play a ...
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Is there a difference between Popper's view on theories versus models based on theories?
I am considering the wisdom of Karl Popper regarding the falsification criterion. It is describe, inter alia, in www.britannica.com according to which "He /Karl Popper/ held that genuinely ...
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IS history inductive or abductive reasoning?
We collect data or events from past in history.
IS it inductive or abductive reasoning ?
In many books (eg. 48 laws of power by Robert Greene) and many other books people state laws by citing events ...
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Has Scientism drastically declined as a worldview in the last 100 years?
I have recently had fellow posters here question my understating that scientism is on the decline. I also have recently seen several members here assert themselves to be advocates of scientism, so I ...
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Categorizing with metaphor, analogy, and symmetry
Continuing the discussion Categorizing with metaphor, analogy, generalization, and abstraction my next question is how two concepts metaphor/analogy equivalent to symmetry(change without change) .If ...
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Argumentation by Russel as to what constitutes an a priori knowable proposition
In the Problems of Philosophy, chapter 10: ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF UNIVERSALS (p.57 in my book), Russel writes the following:
The thing that seemed mysterious, when we formerly considered such knowledge, ...
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What's so special about Tarski's T-Schema?
It seems fairly obvious. Even a five year old could probably come up with it. Its obvious that if something is the case, it is true (literally synonyms).
So, am I missing something? Is there a gulf ...
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Liar's Paradox and Truth
I found myself thinking about the liar's paradox of the form "This sentence is false" and how it relates to one's conception of "Truth" and "Falsity". After deliberating ...
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abductive reasoning in many fields of study
In continuation of the discussion What is the relation between abductive reasoning and fallacy? my question is that if medical science judiciary history all uses abductive reasoning (almost all the ...
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Restating my argument, people have seen real unususal seemingly fictional creaturs [closed]
NOBODY SHOULD EDIT MY ARGUMENT BECAUSE THEY DONT REPRESENT IT CORRECTLY
Reconsidering Unusual Creature Sightings: A Rational Perspective
It is important to reconsider the phenomenon of reported ...
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Positivism in search for truth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positivism
The notion that scientific theories must be tested experimentally is fundamental to the doctrine of positivism, which also requires that theories must always ...
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Is backtesting inductive reasoning?
WE do backtesting in finance, that is we guess hypotheses/premises and then use previous data to verify it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backtesting.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/backtesting....
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What are some points to refute the Mathematical universe hypothesis?
What are some points to refute mathematical universe hypothesis? How can the concept of math cause the emergence of universes just because there is a possibility of it? And how does it determine the ...
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Omniscience argument against Pyrrhonian Skepticism
Pyrrhonian skeptics are known to (allegedly) suspend judgement on ALL matters, thereby being completely free of all presuppositions.
But could such a skeptic suspend judgment about their own ...
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Are simulation based tests / experiments also just types of augmented hyper-reality?
Questions: Are simulation based-tests / experiments just types of augmented hyper-reality?
Background: What I mean here is that the types of tests / experiments here are simulation based so this is ...
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Is John Locke's Empiricism Unempirical?
The esteemed seventeenth-century English philosopher John Locke famously declares that we are tabula rasa (blank slates). When it comes to human understanding we rely upon the force of experience (...
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Question about equivalence and equality [closed]
What is it that equality and equivalence have in common, and how are they distinct.
Please give detailed answer
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What is meant by "nonreliabilist foundationalism" in the Philpapers survey? Why is it popular?
In the 2020 Philpapers survey epistemologists favour nonreliabilist foundationalism, what theories of justification does this include? Maybe classical foundationalism ala Fumerton or phenomenal ...
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How is it determined which explanation is simpler?
One of the criteria of IBE is simplicity.
How to determine which explanation is simpler if there are two types of simplicity:
one type counts the number of hearings, and the other type counts the ...
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Are there any arguments that show the genus-species distinction does not work?
I would be grateful if someone tried to answer the question above. What are some arguments that show that genus-species relation does not correctly describe the world, that it is not a correct ...
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Does false, unreliable testimony support false beliefs?
Present discourse is replete with rogue actors. People publish and promote statements with no evidence or grounds, but the simple act of saying them seems to introduce the possibility of their truth ...
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Epistemic circularity and skepticism about reason
Disclaimer: I'm not a philosopher and I'm not a native speaker, so apologies if my question is somehow flawed as a result. I'm happy to clarify anything that is unclear. So here it is:
Reason's own ...
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Order/disorder and complexity
What is the relation between order/disorder and complexity ? Sometimes I found the terms confusing and ambiguous.
And higher entropy implies low complexity, does not implies low entropy implies higher ...
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A testable hypothesis where its negation is not testable?
I am reading Popper's "Conjectures and Refutations" (2002 edition) where he writes on page 54 in the footnote:
Thus the negation of any nonsense will be nonsense, and that of a
meaningful ...
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If I use arguments to justify my belief in the existence of other minds, do I have to abandon the theory of mind?
If I use IBE arguments (the best explanation argument) or phenomenal conservatism to justify my belief in the existence of other minds, do I have to ignore theory of mind? That is, I should abandon ...
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If I am holding a pen in my hand and I am not writing with it, am I using it?
I believe that the concept of dualism exists throughout the universe.
For every word, phrase, object, and thing in the universe there is a positive and a negative state. For example - up/down, in/out, ...
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If the external world indeed exists, would the ontological nihilism idea be conclusively refuted?
Descartes’ cogito has been discussed and, in many’s minds’, refuted ad nauseam. Anywhere you’ll read about ‘nothingness’, you’re likely to encounter some discussion on Descartes and his self-believed ...
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Help to understand the use of arguments
If the arguments have the same conclusions, but the premises in one argument contradict the premises in another argument, then these arguments cannot be used together. I am right?
For example I have ...
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Top-down bottom-up
I have seem the terms top-down bottom-up approach,top-down bottom-up models,top-down bottom-up causation in many papers.
I am bit confused.Are they really same or how can we define them ?
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Looking for source of quote: People that cannot distinguish rocks from coconuts exhibit a pitiable but praiseworthy tendency to die ,,,
I'd like to find the author and source of a quote. I recall it as:
People that cannot distinguish rocks from coconuts exhibit a pitiable but praiseworthy tendency to die before reproducing their kind.
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Is it possible to know what you don't know?
Is it possible in any logical system to know what one doesn't know literally. I don't mean the daily usage of the phrase like "Sam doesn't know physics", where you are just ignorant about ...
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All we know is that we know nothing? Can we know anything?
Many great philosophers doubted their knowledge. The Paradox of Induction touches on this skepticism
Skeptics say that all knowledge and scientific progress is based on inductive logic, which is ...
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Secrets/Esotericism in Mysticism
Some Western mystical traditions have an element of esotericism or secrecy, restrictions on who can learn the mysteries and how. For example, Judaism traditionally restricts the Kabbalah to men above ...
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What are some problems or counterpoints to Oneness or Non-Dualism
I have a pretty decent understanding of what its proponents think, but I can’t seem to find anything criticizing the view as more places link back to pro-oneness sources. So in to get both sides of ...
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Has any work been done applying Baysian epistemology to the "no miracles" argument for scientific realism?
Specifically, I'm very curious about whether any attempts have been made to quantify the probability that our scientific theories are, in some sense, "approaching the truth". I've read a ...
