Philosophical Foundations

• Rene Descartes • David Hume • Immanuel Kant • Sellars

First rationalist, then progressed onto dualism

Empiricist

Idealism

Manifest image and Scientific image.

Dualism beliefs in the mind (Res Cogitans) and the body (Res Extensa) as two different entities. Reason is our primary source of knowledge, in stating that the bodily senses from which we gain knowledge can be doubted BUT the mind cannot. He thinks therefore he am. Leaning up at Leibniz’ law.

Empiricism is the belief that knowledge primarily comes from our senses. With two different perceptions; Impressions and ideas, being either simple or complex.

sensations, passions and emotions, as they make their first appearance in the soul - The primary

the faint image of these in thinking and reasoning

both impressions and ideas – cannot be separated further They are given to the mind. E.g The colour of an apple

Can be divided into underlying simple perceptions. Perceptions is the whole perception of the apple, while the simple is just the colour surface of the apple.

Idealism, is the belief that knowledge about the world primarily comes from knowledge of the mind. Our senses can only give us contingent knowledge - Meaning knowledge which is gained in a specific environment, other than that it cannot give us knowledge.

Transcendental ideals means, principles or necessary conditions for which you need to fully understand knowledge from experience.

Kant believes there is only time and space which is transcendental, as they enable us to gain sensible knowledge. E.g: For a chair to exist, it MUST exist for some period of time and occupy some measurable space. The principles of time and space are therefore necessary for us to gain this knowledge as we experience the chair in it’s space and time it exist.

The manifest image is the physical world we perceive, it consist of objects, persons, animals and all material things.

The scientific image is all the things we cannot directly see with our own eyes, yet exist. Things we can infer with through observations and science. For example, atoms and subatomic particles are imperceptible to the naked eye, but their existence can be inferred through experiments and observations of their effects on the world around us.

it is that one can only know something or have knowledge of something if it is firstly a belief, then justified in having this belief and it is true. Example: So for instance, if I believed there was a tree outside my house, and I have seen this tree multiple times a day and throughout many months and others have seen or talked about this tree, then I am justified in having this belief. Finally it is true, so if I went home now the tree would still be there, or if I were to call a friend who lives nearby and send live images of the tree it would still be there. As these criterias is fulfilled it then becomes knowledge I have, that outside my house stands a tree. However if one of the criteria is NOT fulfilled we cannot say that we have “true knowledge” of this.

The gettier problem, states that one can indeed have a justified true belief which is false. Example: Two men interviewing for a job. Person A and B, before the interview person B sees person A has 10 coins in his pocket, then after the interview person B is told that person A will get the job, and forms the belief that the person who will get the job has 10 coins in his pocket. His belief is justified true belief, however as the boss comes and tells that person B will get the job, he then finds 10 coins in his pocket, so his belief was indeed justified and true, yet he had no true knowledge of it.

A priori A posteriori Analytic Synthetic

It is knowledge which is gained through analyzing concepts independent of experience.

An analytic argument is considered to be explanatory. It breaks the subject down, and is therefore true by definition. Example: A triangle has three sides All bachelors are unmarried men

Knowledge which is obtained through our experiences

A synthetic statement is augmentative, they add something to our understanding of a subject. Example: Tigers live in India. The beaches in the Caribbean are white and the water is blue A synthetic proposition is one that needs empirical evidence or sensory experience. Example: Bachelors are unhappy - This is impossible to know without collecting empirical evidence aka witnessing that bachelors are unhappy.

Leibniz’ law states that two objects can never have the exact same properties, as it is then the same object instead. Two objects can have closely similar properties, but if they are identical then they are indeed the same thing. Google: It states that no two distinct things exactly resemble each other. This is often referred to as ‘Leibniz’s Law’ and is typically understood to mean that no two objects have exactly the same properties.