Unit 3 - Philosophy

Epistemology

• Deals with ethics.

• • Explores theories of knowledge.

• • Examines religious concepts.

• • Studies societal norms.

What is Priori Knowledge

• Knowledge dependent on experience.

• • Knowledge Justified independently of experience.

• • Examines religious concepts.Relies on empirical evidence.

• • Focuses on innate ideas.

Constructivism

• • Knowledge is received passively.

• • Knowledge is already in the mind.

• • Mind constructs knowledge from experience.

• • Knowledge is universal and objective.

Descartes' Journey

• • Descartes began as a skeptic.

• • Descartes believed in innate ideas.

• • Descartes doubted everything except arithmetic.

• • Descartes rejected the existence of evil demons.

Rationalism

• • Reason is unreliable and inadequate.

• The claim that reason is the source of our knowledge of reality

• • Knowledge is entirely based on experience.

• • Reason is unreliable and inadequate.

Plato Thinks:

• • innate ideas are the truth

• The physical world is constantly changing

• that mathematical truths exist in both within/outside our minds

• • existence of ideals are false

Descartes' Root of Rationalism

• Descartes things that reason can give us knowledge apart from experience

• Descartes doubted the existence of innate ideas.

• Descartes relied on sensory experiences for certainty.

• • Descartes' rationalism is rooted in the rejection of God.

Anchor Points of Empiricism

• We are a blank slate at birth and experience shapes us

• Locke, Berkeley, and Hume support it.

• There is evidence of innate ideas.

• • Reason is the only reliable route to knowledge.

Aristotle's Empiricism

• obtaining knowledge is entirely possible.

• Prior to experience our minds are blank

• Knowledge represents reality as it really is.

• • Aristotle believed in innate ideas.

Hume's Empiricism

• Reason can provide knowledge about the external world.

• That reason could only tell us information about the relationship between our own ideas

• Hume is an idealist.

• • Knowledge is universal and objective.