Philosophy chapter 5

contingent truth

A contingent truth is a true proposition that could have been false

empiricism

Empiricism is a theory that states that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism and skepticism.

Epsitemology

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with the theory of knowledge. Epistemology studies the nature of knowledge, justification, and the rationality of belief.

rationalism

In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification"

string theory

In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. It describes how these strings propagate through space and interact with each other

Immanuel Kant

Inspired by Hume, it is not true that we only know the things of the world by inference, a combination of mental and physical, we set up the world according to a "priori rules", presuppositions of knowledge must be true

Empiricists

Locke, Hume, Mill, and RUssell

rationalists

Plato, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Kant, and Hegel

Subject-object Relation

Subject- belief system many individual facts linked by concepts and theories expressed in language Object- selective perception

Rene Descartes

a rationalist, modern philosophy starts with him, method of doubt (doubt everything, including the existence of the world), God exists therefore the external world must exist, doubt is overcome entirely through reasoning

pragmatic theory of truth

a statement is true if it allows us to function better

David Hume's skepticism

an empiricist, all knowledge comes from experience, does the external world exist?, Hume says we cannot answer this or any other philosophical question, no justification for the most basic everyday assumptions, assumes we cannot make direct contact with the external world, does experience tell us there is an external world?

rationalists and skepticism

an inherent connection between our ideas and the world

empirical truth

exact conformity as learned by observation or experiment between judgments or propositions and externally existent things in their actual status and relations

G.E. Moore's refutation

here is one hand and here is another, there are at least two external objects in the world therefore an external world exists

the problem of relativism

is coherence enough?, are there only two different perspectives and different ways of looking at the world?, doesn't truth if truth at all, have to be objective?

skepticism

is the philosophical position that one should refrain from making truth claims, and avoid the postulation of final truths.

philosophy of science

science as an empirical discipline, theories must be formulated which go beyond experience, truth of facts and theories, theories and hypotheses guide scientific activity, observation and experiment, what facts to look for and how to understand the facts

correspondence theory of truth

the cat is on the mat, states that the truth or falsity of a statement is determined only by how it relates to the world and whether it accurately describes (i.e., corresponds with) that world.

Two distinct realms

the outer physical world, the inner world of experience

empiricists and skepticism

the things in the world affect our sense organs (we infer what these objects must be like)

David Hume's skepticism

what is a cause?, we only see two events occur together, we don't know that one causes the other, we never see the connection between the two, just regularities

coherence theory of truth

what is true is what best fits in (coheres) with our experience and belief system, changes with new experience, role of rationality- reliance on reasons