Questions tagged [epistemology]
Epistemology is the study of knowledge, acquisition thereof, and the justification of belief in a given claim.
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Why is having true beliefs so important?
Of course, when you need to describe reality or make predictions about it, it's important that the beliefs correspond to reality, but say a religion makes an unfalsifiable and unverifiable claim. Does ...
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Does Kant implicitly commit the paralogism of pure reason when saying that to have a representation it is necessary to accompany it with 'I think'?
In Caygill's Kant Dictionary entry of 'I Think' there is this part:
Kant further claims that 'I think' is the necessary vehicle/form/accompaniment of experience: to have a representation it is ...
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If an unfalsifiable claim doesn't contradict known fact, is it harmful to hold?
Say panpsychism. It's compatible with physics, but I don't know how we could determine if an electron is conscious. I don't even know you're conscious! But if believing in it made one's life better, ...
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Why is having true beliefs important? (More detail)
I forgot to keep track of my earlier asking of this question. Rather than make similar replies to many comments, I'll elaborate here. I'll use the example of panpsychism: it holds that natural laws ...
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Is atheism a proposition?
Theism proposes the existence of God. Atheism makes no proposition, it is simply the absence of a belief in God. Theism is the proposition. Atheism is the negation. The negation is not a proposition. ...
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Do people who "withhold judgement" also have a burden of proof?
I will illustrate my question with several examples involving 3 individuals: A, B, C.
Example 1: The shape of the Earth
A defends the claim that the Earth is round.
B defends the claim that the Earth ...
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How does one differentiate epistemological and ontological claims?
I'm taking an introductory philosophy course and I find it fascinating. I can't really figure out an assignment though because I'm a bit foggy on what the difference between ontological and ...
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Can philosophy be useful?
I cite the article by Hans Radder entitled "Everything of value is useful: How philosophy can be socially relevant", published by Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective. He ...
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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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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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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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Do Gödel's incompleteness theorems and Tarski's theorem of indefinability of truth show we can never discover and prove every truth?
I thought I had a grasp on this. Do Gödel's apply to just math; logic, too; or more, and what does its applicability entail? If it applies to math, does it apply to physics? Similarly with Tarski: can ...
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What is the relationship between philosophy and science?
While philosophy and science as held as separate disciplines (and often taught in completely different colleges within a university [i.e. College of Liberal Arts vs. College of Science]), it is ...
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Why is it impossible to predict or foresee the future but, if we could, what is the closest method to do so
I threw a question wondered in my head for sometimes which I cannot prove specifically.
The titled question I guess is every where every time and even across the culture.
To be detailed:
In some times ...
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Are atomic particles abstract objects?
By "atomic particle", I mean everything from molecules to quarks---objects that are outside the realm of normal experience but used in physics and chemistry to explain macroscopic events.
By ...
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Will artificial intelligence lead to experimental philosophy?
Let us clarify some terms, so we do not turn our ankle in some linguistic rabbit-hole before we start. All experimental science used to be called 'Natural Philosophy'. Modern usage re-labels this as '...
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Antiknowledge (as epistemic antigraphs)
So this essay covers the idea of "antisets," which are such as A, B such that A ∪ B = 0 (without A and B being themselves 0). This concept is extended in another essay to talk of antigraphs, ...
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How far can the concept of realism be extended?
How far can the concept of realism be extended?
“Metaphysically, realism is committed to the mind-independent existence of the world investigated by the sciences” A more compact definition would be to ...
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Can private experiences justify private belief in supernaturalism?
Is it ever rational or justified to believe in supernaturalism on the basis of private experiences (of the kind for which publicly accesible evidence can hardly be produced)? If someone has private ...
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What is the basis of the sunk cost fallacy?
Is the so called sunk cost fallacy truly a total fallacy, or does it have some kernel of truth? Certainly it is a widespread instinctive/impulsive form of reasoning. Presumably it must then have had ...
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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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Chaos vs statistical mechanics vs complexity science
could someone shed some light on difference between chaos and complexity ?
What is the difference both ontological and epistemological between complexity science and statistical mechanics ?
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Can the sexual double standard be justified according to this logic/reasoning? [closed]
The sexual double standard is a social phenomenon where the sexual value of males and females are evaluated differently, based on their sexual history with sexual partners of the opposite sex.
Given ...
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To what extent is intersubjective agreement required for one to be justified in trusting one's own subjective experiences?
Context: this is a follow-up to my last question Is the hallucination hypothesis always the best explanation?
Suppose A has a subjective experience (or multiple subjective experiences) that leads them ...
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Can someone explain to me what a contingent fact is?
English is not my first language and I'm trying to understand Williams Argument in "Deciding to believe" when he says that it is not possibe to bring about belief at will and that this is ...
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What is the best reference for understanding inductive theories of knowledge?
I am looking for a pedagogical outline of the inductive theory of knowledge. Something along the lines of a level textbook (graduate or undergraduate) reference rather than references to classic texts....
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Is science possible in a world where a god acts?
Consider a world equipped with a god; and this god from time to time at his convenience and no other, acts in the world; and then too, that those beings who live in the world see these acts as ...
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What is the relation between idealism and science?
My understanding of idealism is that it rests on the primacy of the mind and conscience over matter. The Encyclopædia Britannica provides the following "basic" forms of idealism:
The two ...
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What do philosophers think about the beauty?
When we see someone beautiful we understand what is beauty. The definition may not be absolute but it can be roughly defined. For example - symmetrical form may be considered beautiful. Fair color can ...
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Is science based on David Hume's "A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence"?
"A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence. … no
testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle unless the testimony
be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more ...
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How does Quine effectively shift from points he has made about knowledge acquisition to conclusions he makes about knowledge simpliciter?
Quine propagated forward an approach to epistemology wherein there was no need of any sort of justification "beyond observation and the hypothetico-deductive method" (Quine 1981).
Quine is going ...
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Is Bhaskar's argument, that epistemology and ontology are separate, correct?
Roy Bhaskar [1] is credited with developing a version of Critical Realism [2] with applications in the social sciences.
What is the meaning of Roy Bhaskar's notion of epistemic fallacy (as distinct ...
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Is the hallucination hypothesis always the best explanation?
Suppose there are two persons A and B.
A attests to having witnessed some extraordinary event, e.g. A claims to have had an extraordinary religious experience with an other-worldly entity. Let's say ...
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How does a necessary being fully explain contingent beings?
X contingent <=> there is W s.t. W -> S, where "->" is derivation, not material implication
X necessary <=> X not contingent
Theists claim, without further clarification, ...
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When and why do we say that two things are the same?
In a preceeding question I have asked about the foundations of rational reasonning. It seems the concept of identity plays a key role. However "identity" is not observed in the real world: our mind ...
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Is there such a thing as completely objective truth?
Apologies if this question has been asked before, I looked at similar ones and couldn't find one that answered this exact question.
Is there such a thing as truth completely independent of conditions, ...
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Can disputes over what is reasonable or unreasonable to believe be resolved objectively?
Suppose there are two debaters A and B, and a proposition X. A thinks X is reasonable, and believes X. B does not think X is reasonable, and therefore lacks a belief in X. Thus, A and B are in ...
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Can I know something but not be able to justify it to anyone else?
Can I know something but not be able to justify it to anyone else? I don't necessarily mean metaphysical puzzles, but everyday examples. If I cannot - and I know I cannot - prove to anyone else, all ...
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Do atheists bear the burden of proof in showing why/how the reasons presented by theists are unconvincing?
In conversations and debates between atheists and theists, is it enough for the atheist to assert that they are skeptical of theism without providing justification, or does the atheist bear the burden ...
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What if we abandon all assumptions?
By the title I mean that "What would happen if we didn't assume anything as true?"
My first thought was that nothing could be stated (since there isn't logic/reason to hold any argument/...
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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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Numbers and Time
This is my first post on philosophy stack exchange, so I apologize in advance if this question is not well-defined or if it happens to be a duplicate. If so, feel free to link the corresponding post(s)...
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What is the burden of proof? Has this principle ever been challenged?
I have been surprised to find that some people doubt this principle. Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat - the burden of proof lies with the speaker, not with the one who negates. I ...
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Assumption About What Could Make A Belief Justified
I was reading the IEP's article on epistemic justification, and came across the following paragraph(s):
https://iep.utm.edu/epi-just/#SH1a
I'm having a hard time with the sentence "Proposition 3 ...
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Falsifiability of Assumptions
Karl Popper maintained that empirical sciences should be based on the principle of falsifiability rather than verifiability for no amount of observations can guarantee veracity but a single ...
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Can an extraordinary hypothesis ever be the best explanation for a set of historical facts?
As a motivating example, I have in mind the minimal facts argument for the resurrection of Jesus, espoused by Christian apologists such as Gary Habermas, Michael Licona, and William Lane Craig. The ...
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Limitation of knowledge in real terms
In the "real world," economists are not rich, political scientists are not successful politicians, and so on.
My question is: is there some limitation on success imposed by knowledge (in ...
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Can God make the belief in His own existence justified (if He exists)?
In a hypothetical scenario in which God exists, would God be able to make the belief in His existence justified for humans? If so, how? What would God need to do to accomplish that goal? If not, does ...
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When is absence of evidence not evidence of absence?
"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."
I think this statement raises some kind of epistemic problem. Like, how are we supposed to conclude the potential non-existence of something, like ...
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Are we lost in the details?
A hypothesis.
https://theworld.org/stories/2021-05-20/imagining-gaia-earth-one-great-living-organism
Simply put, the Gaia hypothesis says that Earth is a living system and uses similar mechanisms that ...
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