PHIL 101 Exam 2 Study Guide PDF

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PHIL 101 JMU Exam 2 Study Guide, Stacie Thyrion...

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Phil 101 Prof. Thyrion Study Questions Exam 2 I. Introduction to Epistemology (Ch. 14, PPT 5) 1. What are the central questions in epistemology? -What is knowledge? -How high for the standard be for knowing something? -What are the objects of knowledge? -What are the sources of knowledge? 2. What are the three kinds of knowledge? Which kind of knowledge does epistemology focus on most centrally? -Acquaintance knowledge (I know this person) -Skill knowledge (knowledge how - I know how to play an instrument) -Propositional knowledge (knowledge that - I know UVA was founded by TJ) 3. What is the tripartite (JTB) definition of knowledge? What are the three conditions for knowledge on this definition? What do each of the conditions mean? Can you give the formal expression of each condition, and also explain it in simple terms? -Knowledge is a justified true belief (JTB definition) -Truth condition (Person S knows proposition p only if p is true) You can only know something that is true, you can’t know something that is false -Belief condition (Person S knows proposition p only if s believes p) You can only know things you believe, you can’t know something if you don’t believe it -Justification condition (Person S knows proposition p only if s is justified in believing p) you need to have a good reason to believe something 4. Why not just say that knowledge is a true belief ? Why do we need the justification condition? What does it mean to have justification for a belief ? -Because a belief might turn to be true, but be formed incorrectly -We care about how someone forms a belief, beliefs should be well grounded to count as knowledge be1

-It means we form the belief in the right way with evidence and reasons at hand 5. What does it mean to say that X is necessary for Y? What does it mean to say that X is sufficient for Y? Can you give examples of necessity and sufficiency? -The three knowledge conditions are necessary (required) but not sufficient (enough) -Farmer Brown is worried about his cow Daisy, his farm hand says she’s on the field and is fine, Farmer Brown checks to confirm if cow is fine and sees a blur of black and white in the distance in the field, when in reality the cow is sleeping behind a bush and the blur of black and white was a piece of paper 5. What is a Gettier case? The purpose of a Gettier case is to provide a counterexample to the JTB definition of knowledge - how precisely do they work as counterexamples to the definition? What is the Farmer Brown case? How does it work as a counterexample to the JTB definition of knowledge? -Farmer Brown believes that Daisy is safe, this belief is true, Brown has justification (there is visual evidence) 6. We might think that Gettier cases do not succeed as they’re intended to. But if we do think they are genuine counterexamples to the JTB definition, what are two things we might do to fix the definition? (Do not worry about Robert Nozick and the sensitivity condition – I will not test on this.) -Strengthen the justification condition to rule out Gettier cases/Add a 4th condition for knowledge (JTB+)

II. Descartes’ Epistemology (Ch. 15, PPT 6)

1. Descartes’ Meditations are part of a tradition of meditation writing. Who wrote meditations before him? How are Descartes’ meditations similar and different from this previous tradition? -St. Augustine wrote religious meditations, 4th century -Similarities: Retreat from the everyday world of the senses (the material, physical world) Prepare mind to grasp truths often obscured by material passions (desires) be2

-Differences: It’s an intellectual exercise instead of spiritual exercise He seeks illumination through reason instead of illumination through divine grace 2. Who is meant to do the meditating? That is, who is the meditator? -Descartes and his readers are the meditators, we’re all meant going through the project of meditations 3. One thing the Meditations accomplish is to present an epistemological view. What is the other thing they accomplish? In other words, what is the goal of the meditator? What language does Descartes use to express the goal? Can you explain the goal in simple language? What metaphor does Descartes frequently use in explaining this goal? -Goal: Establish a “firm and permanent” edifice of knowledge for the sciences —> establish a solid belief system -A house? 4. What method does Descartes use in the Meditations? What does it mean for a belief to be indubitable? -Method of Doubt - doubt all of the foundations of his beliefs and begin anew from firm certain foundations -impossible to doubt, unquestionable; absolutely beyond doubt 5. By using his particular method, Descartes is setting a certain standard for knowledge. Is this a high standard? Can you explain why? -Yes it’s high because your opinions need to be held back and knowledge has to be certain and indubitable 6. How is Descartes’ method connected to the tripartite definition of knowledge? -JTB, kind of justification you need is indubitably 7. Who are the skeptics? What is their basic view? How is Descartes using their own method against them? Does Descartes mean to be a skeptic himself ? -Method isn’t for the sake of doubting, it’s meant to build up the strongest set of beliefs possible -Descartes method is meant to defeat skepticism-particularly about the external world

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8. What does Descartes think is the current foundation of his (and our) house of beliefs, before we undertake the meditations? -Current foundation of his beliefs are sense experience, senses can be doubted so they’re not trustworthy 9. Descartes applies the method of doubt by presenting three doubt arguments in Meditation 1. What are these three arguments? -The Perceptual Illusion Argument -The Dream Argument -The Evil Genius Argument 10. What is the Perceptual Illusion Argument? Which beliefs does it knock down? -Our senses sometimes deceives us when objects are far away, things look one way far away, but different up close, we should not trust senses -How do we know if it’s a veridical case or a perceptual illusion 11. What is the Dream Argument? Can you explain the argument in simple terms? Is Descartes arguing that we are in fact dreaming? (Hint: No, he’s not!) What’s the better way to explain what he’s arguing? Which beliefs does the Dream Argument knock down? Which beliefs are left standing? -Possible that everything you perceive to be a part of the physical world is not real; that experience is not veridical -You can’t know if you’re dreaming right now (you can’t trust your senses) -Knocks down all beliefs based on senses -2+3=5 and a square has no more than 4 sides 12. What does it mean to say that an experience is veridical? If we’re dreaming, is our dream experience veridical or non-veridical? -related to reality -it would be non-verdical

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13. What is the Evil Genius Argument? Can you explain the argument in simple terms? Is Descartes arguing that we are in fact being deceived by an evil genius? (Again, no, he’s not!) What’s the better way to explain what he’s arguing? Which beliefs does the Evil Genius Argument knock down? -Can make mistakes during reasoning, especially during complex cases (can be subtle) -Maybe there’s an evil genius who cofounds us in making similar mistakes even in the simple cases -Knocks down beliefs based on reason 14. Why does Descartes give the three doubt arguments in this order? Why not just give the Evil Genius argument if it can do all of the work? What are the two reasons we could give for using all three arguments in this order? -Gradually warms us up for the most difficult thought experiments -He makes a point: Evil genius knocks out both sensory and reason beliefs, dream argument only knocks out sensory beliefs (sensory beliefs are easier to doubt) 15. What is the one indubitable belief Descartes finds at the start of Meditation 2? Why do we call it the Cogito? Can you explain in simple terms why this belief is impossible to doubt? -Cogito ergo sum translated to I think, therefore I exist -If you’re there to doubt, you have to exist to doubt 16. What role does the Cogito play in building back up a stronger house through the rest of the Meditations? -It provides a paradigm of certainty -It shows that we are essentially thinking things (Descartes metaphysics) -Gives us one solid foundational belief upon which we can rebuild our house (The cogito is the very strong foundation, then beliefs that come through reason is next, and lastly sensory beliefs are added because they are supported by a strong foundation) III. Hume’s Epistemology (Ch. 16, PPT 7) 1. What is Hume trying to establish with his epistemology (and moral philosophy)? -Tried to establish a “science of a man” - a scientific examination of human psychology and human knowledge be5

2. What does Hume think is the only source of knowledge? Where does he think all the contents of our minds ultimately come from? -Senses -All the contents of our thought (and all knowledge) ultimately comes from experience 3. Hume gathers all the contents of the mind together, and then divides those contents into two main categories of thought. What are these two categories? How are they different? -Perceptions: Non-propositional thoughts -Judgements: Propositional thoughts 4. What are the two categories of perceptions? What are the two significant differences between these categories? What is the relationship between these categories? Which of the two categories is more fundamental? How is this connected to Hume’s empiricism? -Impressions: sensations, desires, emotions; Characteristic traits: very forceful and lively -Ideas: recollected/imagined sensations, desires, emotions; Characteristic traits: less forceful and lively -The Copy of Principle: ideas are mere copies of impressions; all ideas we have are based on what we have had impressions of 5. What are the two categories of judgments? The categories can be distinguished by their source. Which category involves the use of reason? Why do we say that reason is merely a helper? How does this relate to Hume’s empiricism? Which category of judgments is based purely on sense experience? Can you give examples of each category of judgment? -Relations of Ideas: every affirmation which is intuitively/demonstratively certain (discoverable by thoughts alone; contraries are impossible, negation leads to internal contradictions) -Matters of Fact: those that we know through sense perception (not discoverable by thought alone; contraries are possible) 6. What is the other test we can use to tell which category a judgment belongs to? Can you give examples of how this test works? -SR: Past experience

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7. For Hume’s problem of induction, which kind of judgments is he concerned with? -Matter of Fact judgements (MF) 8. What is the problem of induction? Could you explain in simple terms? Why does Hume think inductive reasoning is always unjustified? -Inductive reasoning is unjustified; cannot reason inductively in a way that is justified or based on reason 9. What is the uniformity of nature principle? How is this involved in the problem of induction? -Nature is uniform: the future will resemble the past -helps bridge the past and future 10. What is circular reasoning? Why is it bad? How is it involved in the problem of induction? -they are not meaningful -assume the very thing you are trying to prove (circular reasoning) -inductive reasoning is never gonna be justified because we’re gonna keep relying on the principle that the future is gonna keep relying on the past 11. Does Hume think we need to give up inductive reasoning? -No, can’t give it up if we tried; necessary to function and built into human nature 12. Hume thinks inductive reasoning cannot be grounded in reason. What does he think it is grounded in? -custom or habit, like Pavlov dogs

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