Part III: Epistemology
Chapter 6: Is Knowledge Possible?
Chapter 7: Does Science Tell Us the
Whole Truth and Nothing But the
Truth?
Chapter 6: Is Knowledge Possible?
• Epistemology – the study of knowledge (how
we know)
• Empiricism – theory that knowledge comes
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through experiencing with the senses
Rationalism – theory that reason is the source
of knowledge
Skepticism – “to reflect on,” “consider,” or
“examine”. Doubting or suspending judgment.
Empiricism
• Tabula rasa – the idea that before sense
experience, the human mind is a “empty
tablet” or “blank slate”
• A posteriori – “after experience”, the
idea that we cannot know until have
experience through the senses
Rationalism
• Innate ideas – ideas that are built into
the mind at birth
• A priori – there is knowledge prior to or
independent from experience
Skepticism
• Common-sense skepticism – healthy
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skepticism that suspends judgment at one time
or another
Methodical skepticism – used by philosophers
and scientists to search for truth. Doubt
hypothesis until it is tested to determine
accuracy.
Absolute skepticism – doubts the very
possiblity of knowledge. Advocated by Pyrrho of
Elis (about 300 BCE.)
Sufi Mysticism
• Sufism – an Islamic mystical movement
which taught that direct and immediate
experience of Allah is possible.
• Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (1058)
believed knowledge came through
experience of intimate union or contact
with the Divine
Deliverance from Error
Al-Ghazali
• Defines knowledge as that which is true
and certain without any doubt of its truth
• Believed that knowledge could not be
reached through empiricism, rationalism,
or skepticism
• Al-Ghazali sought knowledge of the
Divine, which he believed was found
through mysticism, or experience of the
Divine
Is Certainty Possible?
• Is there absolute truth?
• Direct realism – reality exists apart from
human sensations, and senses put us
directly in touch with reality
• Indirect or representational realism –
sensations represent physical reality. We
are only directly in touch with our
sensations of reality
Meditations I and II
René Descartes
• Attempts to support the certainty of knowledge
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obtained from science by proving that
representational realism is correct
All sense-perceptions can be doubted, but one
cannot doubt that he exists
“. . .physical objects are grasped, not by the
senses or the power of having mental images,
but by understanding alone.”
Empiricism and Limited Skepticism
• Problem of induction – problem of
discovering rational foundations for all the
conclusions we draw based on experience
• Analytic statements – how ideas are
related and synthetic statements are
about facts
• Synthetic statements – statements
about fact
An Enquiry Concerning Human
Understanding
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David Hume
Analyzes the empiricist theory that everything
we can know about the world is ultimately
derived from our senses.
Questions the existence of firm foundations of
knowledge other than customary and habitual
associations of ideas
Hume says that all reasoning concerning matters
of fact is founded on cause and effect
Cause and effect relies on the principle that “the
future will resemble the past”, which can not be
proven deductively or inductively
Should We Believe Beyond the
Evidence?
• Evidentialism – a statement should not be accepted as
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true unless it can be supported by good evidence
William James (1842-1910) advocated pragamatism
Pragmatic theory of truth – the basis of
pragmatism, that some proposition p is true if and only
if the beliefe that “p is true” works
Correspondence theory of truth – p is true if and
only if p corresponds to the facts
Coherence theory of truth – p is true if and only if p
is logically implied by q, where q is a true statement,
and q in turn is logically implied by r, and so on
The Ethics of Belief
William K. Clifford
• Argues against the James’ ideas because
of its denial of objectivity, reduction of
truth to what one wants to believe, and
relativity
• Argues that “it is wrong to believe on
insufficient evidence, or to nourish belief
by suppressing doubts and avoiding
investigation.”
The Will to Believe
William James
• Argues that an individual’s beliefs or
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understanding of the truth is a result of the
choices they make between different truth
claims or hypothesis
Options (the decision between 2 hypothesis)
may be:
– Living or dead: if it is living, then both hypothesis
have some appeal
– Forced or avoidable: one may be able to avoid having
to make a choice
– Momentous or trivial: it is trivial if the opportunity is
not unique
Classical Indian Epistemology
• The Indian philosopher Udayana combined the Vaisesika
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and Nyaya schools of philosophy into Naiyayika
Nyaya – examines the knowing subject, the object to be
known, the known object, and the means of coming to
know the object
Naiyayika – advanced Nyaya theory that correct causes
of knowledge can be analyzed in four kinds:
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perception
Inference
Comparison
Reliable testimony
• Pramānas – causes for knowledge
Knowledge and Reality
John M. Koller
• Examines the means of knowledge
• Perceptual knowledge is the true and
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determinate knowledge that comes from sensory
data
Inference moves from perception to knowledge
of something that has not been perceived
Comparison observes a similarity and draws a
conclusion
Shabda – “word”, refers to knowledge of
something from a reliable person
Knowledge and Reality
John M. Koller
• Nyaya syllogistic form for inferences
– Yonder hill has fire
– Because it has smoke
– Whatever has smoke has fire, for example, a
stove
– Yonder hill has smoke such as is always
accompanied by fire
– Therefore yonder hill has fire
Feminist Epistemology: A Non
Western Perspective
• Feminist epistemology began as a critique of
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existing theories
Argues ways of knowing are not universal
“standpoint” epistemology – acknowledges
that all knowing substantially involves the social
and historical context of the knowers
Positivism – theory that modern science and
its methods of empirical and experimental
verification are the only sure guide to knowledge
The Project of Feminist
Epistemology
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Uma Narayan
Critiques western feminist epistemology from an
Indian feminist perspective
Feminist epistemology poses political problems
for nonwestern feminists due to traditions
Positivism is not necessarily the main target of
feminism for nonwestern feminists
It is not always advantageous to have the
“epistemic advantage,” which is the ability to see
a situation from more than one context