Epistemology- Part 1 PDF

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first lecture in epistemology unit- professor Jones ...

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Epistemology: Rationalism, Empiricism, Rational Empiricism and Your Worldview 

Epistemology

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Defined: epistemology is the theory of knowledge. It is the study of nature, means, validity, and limits of human cognition.

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Skepticism:

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Defined: skepticism is the view that genuine knowledge is probably not possible -probably, real knowledge is beyond the human grasp - you can never be certain, there’s always a possibility that you are probably wrong

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Rationalism:

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Defined: the view that knowledge ultimately comes from reason rather than experience - Descarte and Plato: important rationalist philosophers - Plato: you cant make sense of your sensory experiences unless you have an idea of things already - Plato: world of forms - “Experiences aren’t self-interpreting, you have to interpret them based on the ideas you already have”- Dr. Jones

Descartes: Famous saying: “cogito ergo sum”- “I think therefore I am”

Descartes believed that because he is thinking he must exist. Because whether he is correct or incorrect about that fact, he remains to exist regardless. - Our thoughts of an infinite and perfect being (God) must exist for our thought of him to exist - Because we are finite and imperfect beings we cannt possibly conceive of a perfect and infinite being without that being having existed and implanting that thought in our heads - I think, therefore I am - I exist Empiricism: Defined: empiricism is the view that al knowledge comes from experience -you cannot know anything outside of experience - Aristotle, John Locke, David Hume Aristotle: everything everything is a combination of matter and forms, that’s how we know what things are - A book is just atoms in the form of a rectangle/square with pages inside, etc. - Experiences write knowledge on the blank slate or “Tabula Rossa” of the mind- John Locke - Barkley said to be a true empiricist, we have to set aside some traditional ideas about experience - We experience the shape, size and weight of an object (its form) but we cannot really experience the matter or atoms that make it up - David Hume- you can’t really experience yourself, you only experience thoughts, feelings, and memorieshe develops the, the cluster theory

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- To assume that something is caused by something else could be committing the post hoc fallacy. Seeing that A is followed by B does not necessarily mean A caused B. - Rational Empiricism: the view that the mind provides a framework of ideas that makes it possible for us to gain knowledge through experience - Kant: space is not something we experience. We bring the idea of space to our experiences to better understand those experiences - Kant’s “Copernican Revolution” in Epistemology: - The categories of understanding (space, time, causality, etc.) constitute perception rather than being constituted by perception How does this relate to your worldview? 

Skepticism is incompatible with Christianity but compatible with Naturalism

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Rational empiricism is compatible with Christianity but inexplicable for naturalism

Naturalism

Christianity

Empiricism

Rationalism

Skepticism

Rational empiricism

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The concept of innate knowledge is biblical- Gentiles have an innate knowledge of right and wrong

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Naturalists have no way of explaining where innate ideas/knowledge come from

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