Questions tagged [epistemology]
Epistemology is the study of knowledge, acquisition thereof, and the justification of belief in a given claim.
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Absolute confirmation of Carnap and consistency condition
In formal epistemology, consistency condition states that:
An evidence E can't confirm both H and its negation, not-H.
Carnap states that for the concept of absolute confirmation, the consistency ...
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A broad question on Deleuze's analysis of kantian philosophy ( doctrine of faculties)
In Kant's Critical Philosophy ( Doctrine of faculties) Deleuze displays a 2-dimensional analysis of mind faculties
(1) faculties defined by the relation between the representation, the object and the ...
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Why can anything be discovered in mathematics at all?
Imagine a Perfect Mathematician that has superhuman abilities -- if you give him or her a formal foundational system for mathematics like ZFC with all the underlying logical machinery, he or she is ...
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Questions on “Bayes or Bust?” by Earman
In bayesian epistemology, we usually find the bayesian theorem expressed in relation with three proposition: H, hypoyesis, E, evidence, K, background knowledge.
In particular, in "Bayes or Bust?&...
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Does Plato hold that “the world experienced via the senses is what is real”?
According to the introduction of this article, Plato and Aristotle both held that "the world experienced via the senses is what is real."
I do not doubt this point when it comes to Aristotle....
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Is our reality completely illusionary as it is depicted in religions or various philosophical views?
I know that in many religions or in the work of many philosophers the ultimate truth or essence of existence is depicted monist. Some even argue further that all our experience is an illusion- which I ...
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What was Leibnitz's reasoning when he tried to prove machines cannot have consciousness using his “expansion” thought experiment?
I remember Leibnitz once particularly talked about this in one of his philosophy books (forget the book name, maybe Monadology). He said something like if consciousness can be made up of mechanical ...
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What is a counter argument for the proposition that reaching the truth involves abandoning language and other intellectual instruments?
I have a linguist friend of mine who proposes that one should abandon all labels and paradigms to reach the ultimate truth, as they are deceptive. He proposes that you should strip all intellectual ...
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examples of a) an objective fact, b) a subjective fact, and c) an observer-dependent fact and explain briefly what makes them categorized [closed]
examples of a) an objective fact, b) a subjective fact, and c) an observer-dependent fact and explain briefly what makes them categorized in this way. Explain what it is that makes the statements ...
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Question about Cogito, ergo sum
As far as I know Decartes tried to prove that he existed from the fact that he was thinking.
And he thought this was only proof. My question is following:
-- why is the argument brought up above, ...
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Does Bayesian epistemology solve Humeās problem of induction?
Or, does it just sidestep it? Or, is it just completely unrelated to it? Iām having trouble seeing what the connection might be. It seems to me that Bayesians solve it by saying, take:
Your prior ...
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Which field in the natural sciences always requires accurate and precise scientific instruments? [closed]
I am a high school student that believes as many others that natural sciences is an area of knowledge that is about reliable information. However, I see that scientific instruments play an significant ...
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Empiricism and Morality
How would an empiricist develop a moral philosophy without running into the is-ought problem? The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris tries to formulate one but does not effectively resolve the is-ought ...
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Gettier Cases seem absurd and unconvincing
Suppose that Smith and Jones have applied for a certain job. And suppose that Smith has strong evidence for the following conjunctive proposition: (d) Jones is the man who will get the job, and Jones ...
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Resolve the contradiction/paradox [closed]
-We have observed that the color of a raven is black.
-Every non-blue thing I have observed
in my room is non-raven.
-By inductive reasoning, every non-blue thing I will observe in my room is non-...
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Question about the IEPās (Michael Huemerās) formulation of phenomenal conservatism
(I posted the identical question on the AskPhilosophy subreddit.)
I first learned about phenomenal conservatism under a different name, āthe principle of credulityā, from the philosopher of religion ...
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Can it be said, in the Kantian sense of the word “noumena”, that noumena exist?
I know Kant says it. But he also claims that nothing else can be said about noumena, only that they exist. I seem to be strongly convinced that this statement involves a contradiction and therefore ...
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Is there a formal name for the “philosopher's fallacy” or “fallacy of underwhelming exception”?
I'm looking for the name for a particular logical fallacy that I think of variously as the "philosopher's fallacy" or the "annoying middle school kid fallacy", based on the ...
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Should real possibilities be considered a part of reality and, as such, be regarded as evidence?
Can we say, with respect to reality, that "I AM not just What I AM"? That, aside from things actually existing or having been in the past, the real possibilities too must be treated as part ...
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Contributions of Descartes
What ideas did Descartes have about knowledge and reality that were so incongruent with the prevailing neo-Aristotelian paradigm of knowing the real essences of things through abstracting from sense ...
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Book recommendation on the history of philosophical psychology : structure of mind and mental faculties
I'm looking for a systematic survey of the history of philosophical psychology, either an expository text, or a selection of readings arranged chronologically.
My orignal motivation regards the ...
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Is the theory of relativity scientifically proven? [closed]
I am writing an essay and talked about a point of of the development in the force of gravity, I talked about Issac Newtonās findings and how they were later corrected by Albert Einstein. Was the ...
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Does sensation/ perception count as knowledge according to Aristotle? And what word does he use to denote this kind of knowledge?
When one wants to take a synoptic view of the history of epistemology, one notices that Aristotle's contribution is almost always explained in terms of scientific knowledge resting on demonstration.
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Question from a high school student about role of natural sciences?
I am doing my essay on natural sciences methodology therefore, I wanted to give the example how according to the scientific method, new valid evidence could add to or correct previous knowledge. ...
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1answer
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Did Zeno of Sidon really write that any geometrical system must have some unstated assumptions?
According to this site Zeno of Sidon argued that
even if we admit the fundamental principles of geometry, the
deductions from them cannot be proved without the admission of
something else as well ...
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Optimal truth assignments for minimizing variation from credences
Suppose I have a set of propositions and "exogenous" credence levels for each proposition i.e. how likely I think it is to be true. Then suppose Ī know that certain logical relations hold ...
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How does one distinguish fact and belief?
I have seen a similar question, but I am looking for the distinction between fact and belief, and not knowledge and belief. Also, I do not seek, necessarily, Plato's view.
In order to distinguish fact ...
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Descartes and his taxonomy of ideas
Given the context of philosophical ideas such as tabula rasa, empiricism, and rationalism, RenƩ Descartes is known for his philosophy of mind and his attempt to analyze thinking as well as his ...
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Does the practice of firing dissenters from universities undermine the meaningulness of scientific consensus? [closed]
I am constantly bombarded with links to articles and videos by professors, doctors, PhDs and the likes who claim that vaccines are harmful, dangerous and ineffective at preventing infectious diseases. ...
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Who was the first to posit something akin to the falsifiability principle?
Peirce in CP 5.199 writes something very similar to falsifiability principle namely the following:
...But these logicians refuse to admit that we can ever have a right to
conclude definitely that a ...
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1answer
93 views
How would Descartes, Socrates, Hume and Popper respond to psychopathic gaslighting? [closed]
Let's say Descartes, Socrates, Hume, and Popper were up against a psychopath who tried to abuse their minds with gaslighting techniques to win an argument. They would meet the psychopath one by one ...
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How to structure an argument and epistemic defeaters in a professional way?
I'm trying to learn how to present an argument with epistemic defeaters in a professional way.
Let's say we have the following arguments when you're inside your home and are considering if it's ...
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Is thinking an activity of a subject?
I am interested in the question of whether thinking must be an activity of a subject. Is it true that thinking has no reality without being a mode of the subject? Could it be possible that there is ...
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Knowledge and epistemic intuition
Gettier famously argues against the traditional theory of knowledge that justified true belief may not always be knowledge. Basically, his examples can be summarized as whether we can have knowledge ...
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Are there truths that the scientific method cannot explore, but maybe alternative methods can? [duplicate]
Are there truths that the scientific method cannot explore, but maybe alternative methods can? Does the scientific method subsume all possible valid ways to obtain true knowledge? Or are there ...
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Who are some 19th century philosophers to posit something akin to meaning holism and how did they argue in favor of it?
According to this Whewell debated with Stuart Mill on "Holism vs. Particularism".
What were their arguments in support of the 'meaning holism' if they had any?
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What is the relation between a priori and tautologies?
I have just started learning Epistemology. I am not sure about the relation between a priori and tautologies.
My textbook has given definitions for a priori and tautology.
A priori: knowledge which is ...
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What is a Good, Historically Grounded, Summary or Presentation of Kant's Epistemology
I am looking for an historically grounded book which can introduce me to understanding Kant's epistemology such as he gives in his Critique of Pure Reason and his Metaphysical Foundations of Natural ...
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“Inference to the Best Explanation if the Best is Sufficiently Good”
The reliability of Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE) is sometimes contested because it may end up recommending the best of a bad lot, which might require a modification of IBE (e.g. contra ...
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Infinite Regress in Language and Logic?
I had this idea, and it seems novel to me, but I'm wondering if there is a philosopher that addresses this issue already because I think it's kind of interesting.
When making a logical statement, you ...
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1answer
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Who was the first to state that scientific theories are sets of statements or propositions?
During the late 19th century or early 20th C.S Peirce defined scientific theories as sets of propositions and made some interesting assertions about them.
Who was the first to define scientific ...
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Did C.S Peirce ever express anything close to the paradigm shift concept?
Since the study of Peirce seems to have a large number of papers in the philosophical corpus where researchers ascribe to him several concepts that were (re?)discovered several decades after his death ...
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How to make sense of “ I know that p but I could be wrong as to p”? ( Faillibilism)
There is a well known modal fallacy regarding knowledge which says that if some subject s knows that p, then p cannot be false, and therefore , p is a necessarily true proposition.
Source : [ by ...
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Did C.S Peirce ever express anything in the same vein to meaning holism?
C.S Peirce's philosophy is considered a predecessor to the logical positivism.
In some respects Peirce is also thought as having prefigured several major philosophical ideas that came after logical ...
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Contradiction and existence
I would have liked to know if this argument was logical and if it had already been made:
Everything exists. The principle of non-contradiction applied to existence is a postulate that does not hold. ...
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What's the closest predecessor to this statement by C.S Peirce?
Peirce wrote the following:
if one exerts certain kinds of volition, one will undergo inreturn
certain compulsory perceptions (CP 5.9)
I suppose it resembles Compte's "theory guides what ...
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Epistemology vs Philosophy of Science
If epistemology is the philosophical study of knowledge and ways of knowing, and if science is the ultimate system for the acquisition of knowledge, my question is simple: What is the difference ...
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Definition of “agent”?
I apologize if this thread doesn't belong here but it seemed like a good place to start. I'm working on the final project for my math's degree on the topic of belief revision, mostly based on the ...
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Is it consistent to argue for a properly basic belief?
I'm currently trying to understand Plantiga's proposed reformed foundationalism and this may be a stupid question but if say you agree that God is a properly basic belief is it still consistent to ...
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Guessing the past - Bayes - Throwing Dart
I'm trying to understand how Bayes formula helps us make guesses about the past.
What are your thoughts about the following philosophical metaphor regarding claims about events in the past?
Whenever ...
