Flashcards
Reason as a source of knowledge
Cards in this deck (37)
- 1What is rationalismThe belief that the ultimate source of knowledge is reason
- 2What is innatismThe belief that we are born knowing certain things (e.g. a moral sense, knowledge of God, knowledge of maths etc)
- 3What is a priori knowledgeKnowledge that is independent of experience and can be known with certainty without experience
- 4What is a posteriori knowledgeKnowledge dependent on experience that cannot be known with certainty without experience
- 5How does rationalism argue that knowledge should be generatedIt should begin with undeniable truths, using deduction to produce more truths, all of which can be known with certainty
- 6How does Empiricism argue knowledge should be generatedBy observing the world and using induction to generate laws and theories which can never be known with certainty
- 7What are Descartes 4 steps to producing knowledge1. Break the problem into its smallest parts
2. Use deduction (make sure the steps follow from each other
3. Only accept beliefs recognised clearly and distinctly to be true
4. Ensure no steps are left out - 8What does Cogito er sum meanI think therefore I am
- 9What makes an idea clear for DescartesAn idea is clear if it is very bright and present to the mind
- 10What makes an idea distinct for DescartesAn idea is distinct if it is sharply separated from other ideas
- 11How does Descartes describe intuitionAn act of intellect whereby it inwardly looks upon an intellectual object, eg a triangle, and sees its true features eg has three sides
- 12What is Leibniz criticism of Descartes intuitionismDescartes doesn't define the terms clear and distinct adequately enough and relying on feeling isn't enough
- 13What is the generalisation criticism of intuitionismDescartes attributes the Cogito's success to the fact that its clear and distinct but then makes a generalisation that any belief that is clear and distinct to you must also be true
- 14What is Ryle's criticism of IntuitionismIt doesn't follow the correspondence of truth theory whereby a belief (internal to you) is only true if it corresponds to a fact (external to you), Descartes is saying that internal is enough to grant truth status but Ryle says this is mistaken
- 15What is Descartes own criticism to his intuitionismHe asks whether we could be being deceived to think that clear and distinct ideas are true when they are not. He then concludes he needs to prove Gods existence to get out of this which is a weakness within itself
- 16What is intuitionism's defenceClear and distinct ideas must somewhat correspond to the truth due to evolution otherwise we would've died out by now
- 17What does Descartes intuition and deduction thesis sayAll knowledge is based on a foundation of truths that are knowledge a priori
- 18What are the two sides of Humes forkMatters of fact and relations of ideas
- 19What does relations of ideas encapsulateNecessary truths such as maths and geometry, known with certainty as its a tautology, a priori
- 20What type of truths are a prioriAnalytic truths
- 21What do matters of fact encapsulateFacts and generalisation's about the world, not certain only levels of possibility, a posteriori
- 22What type of truth are a posteriori ideasSynthetic truths
- 23What are the consequences of Hume's fork for rationalistsShows that reason can only tell us things that are true by definition, all other knowledge is based in experience
Also reason can only help us deduce further truths about the world from experience but cant do so by itself - 24Explain the cogito as a deductionP1 - I am thinking
P2 (hidden premise) - All thinking things exist
C - I exist - 25What does Descartes say about the cogito as a deductionHe argues its not a deduction, but a simple intuition of the mind. He says the argument has to be short so that even if a demon is affecting his memory he is able to remember the argument
- 26Explain the cogito as a transcendental argumentA transcendential arguement aims to transend doubt, it works by arguing existance is needed to doubt therefore to doubt is to exist
- 27What's the criticism of thisIt may still be too complex to adequately serve Descartes purpose of it being a simple intuition
- 28Explain the cogito as a self verifying thoughtThe truth of the cogito lies in the act of performing it. The thought 'I don't exist' is self defeating and an assertoric inconsistency (contradiction). The cogito must be self verifying as the opposite is self defeating
- 29Identify a problem with the cogito generating knowledgeIt produces no knowledge related to the 'I' that is thinking therefore does it really produce knowledge?
- 30What is Plato's theory of formsThe idea that there is a pervious world in which we experienced the perfect pure form of concepts, even the concepts of intangible things such as beauty and love. We can recognise instances of these concepts but never fully grasp the entire concept again. We have forgotten them but they are innately in us
- 31What is the slave boy argumentP1 - The slave boy has no prior knowledge of geometry and squares
P2 - Socrates only asks questions, he doesnt teach the boy about squares
P3 - By the end of the questions the boy is able to grasp an eternal truth about squares
P4 - This eternal truth was not derived from Socrates nor from the boys prior experience
C1 - The eternal truth must've existed in the boy to begin with - 32What is a criticism of this argumentSome may say it is just reason in action. An understanding of the features of shapes can be derived from experience so he may just be using reason
Also Socrates is using leading questions and therefore teaching him - 33What is Plato's broader argumentP1 - The senses can only reveal particular instances (usually imperfect examples)
P2 - The mind can grasp prefect, universal concepts (often through the process of reasoning)
C1 - These concepts and forms cannot be derived from the senses
C2 - These concepts must be contained within us to begin with (they are innate) - 34What is a criticism of this ideaEmpiricists would argue we have ideas of perfect concepts such as a perfect circle by thinking about imperfect circles we've already experienced and removing the imperfections
- 35What analogy does Cottingham use to describe Descartes views on innate knowledgeWe hold innate knowledge similar to a book, the ideas are always there but not always directly present, its only through careful reading (thinking) that we can distinguish which are innate and which are external
- 36Explain Leibniz necessity of truth argumentP1 - The senses only give us particular instances
P2 - A collection of instances can never show the the necessity of a truth
P3 - We can grasp and prove many necessary truths (like maths)
C1 - Therefore the necessary truths that we grasp with our mind don't derive from our senses.
C2 - The mind is the source of these necessary truths
C3 - These ideas are known innately - 37Explain Leibniz block of marble analogyOur minds are like marble, veined in such as way that when struck it will take on a specific shape. Similarly when our minds are presented with sense data certain ideas have a tendency to appear. The ideas are innate to us as dispositions
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- AS level Philosophy Flashcards on Reason as a source of knowledge , created by lukas majda on 23/04/2024.
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