THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE

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THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
Three Main Questions

• 1. What are the sources of knowledge?
• 2. What is the nature of knowledge?
• 3. Is our knowledge valid?

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THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
Tradition and Common Sense

• 1. Idols of the mind
• a. the idols of the tribe
• b. the idols of the cave
• c. the idols of the marketplace
• d. the idols of the theater

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THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
Obstacles To Clear Thinking

• 2. Prejudice
• 3. Propaganda
• 4. Authoritarianism

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THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
Obstacles To Clear Thinking

• 5. Fallacies in thinking
• 1. Begging the question - one of the premises is
  in the conclusion, usually in disguise
• 2. Ad hominem (to the man) fallacy - move from
  an issue to a personality in the middle of an
  argument

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THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
Obstacles To Clear Thinking

• 3. Other informal fallacies
• Use of threat False cause
• Appeal to ignorance Appeal to the mob
• Hasty conclusion Guilt by
  association
• Slippery slope Straw man

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THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
Obstacles To Clear Thinking

• 6. Closed minds
• Can block advances in knowledge
• Can block various relationships

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THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
The Possible Sources Of Knowledge

• 1. Authority
• Can be helpful or dangerous
• Helpful when it can be questioned and trusted
• Dangerous when not examined and weighed in the
  balance
• 2. Empiricism - our senses are the source of our
  knowledge

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THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
The Possible Sources Of Knowledge

• Problems with empiricism -
• Our experiences do not account for all of our
  knowledge
• Our senses are not always trustworthy -
• Vision
• Sound
• Smell and taste
• Mental experience

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THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
The Possible Sources Of Knowledge

• 3. Rationalism - reason is the center of our
  knowledge
• Mild rationalism - we can know with more than
  senses
• Strict rationalism - absolute truths solely
  without senses

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THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
The Possible Sources Of Knowledge

• 4. Intuition -
• Intuition can be harmful in isolation

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THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
SUMMARY ON THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE

• Sources of knowledge work together - worth more
  together than as individual approaches
• Different situations call for different forms of
  knowledge
• We need to adapt

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THE NATURE AND TESTSOF KNOWLEDGE

• Does what we know exist only in our minds?
• Can we gain knowledge from a real world outside
  of us?

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THE NATURE AND TESTS OF KNOWLEDGE

• Subjectivism says what we sense is not real
• unless we are conscious of it.
• Subjectivism then says there is no reality
• outside of individual experience. But there is
• still a difference between primary and
• secondary qualities.

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THE NATURE AND TESTS OF KNOWLEDGE

• What if I am all there is to reality?
• Or you are all there is?
• Everything else is a figment of your or my
• imagination.
• Solipsism subjectivism at its most extreme.
• Not a serious position.
• Related to this is the egocentric predicament
  if
• everything comes from my own mind and
• experiences, then everything is an object we are
• always the subject.

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THE NATURE AND TESTS OF KNOWLEDGE

• Positives on subjectivism direct knowledge is
• comforting. We also do not have to continually
• justify what we know.
• Negatives -
• 1. almost always ends in solipsism
• 2. cannot explain how any belief can be wrong
• 3. experience in itself is an inadequate basis
  for
• Knowledge

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THE NATURE AND TESTS OF KNOWLEDGE - OBJECTIVISM

• I can have independent knowledge of an
• outside world.
• Reality exists apart from what I know.
• Arguments for objectivism
• 1. Subjectivism engages in non sequitur
• drawing a false conclusion from a true
• proposition

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THE NATURE AND TESTS OF KNOWLEDGE

• 2. Subjectivism wrongly uses idea both for
• the concept held by the knower AND the
• object known
• 3. Objectivism explains the world around us,
• the beyond
• 4. Objectivism accounts for causal
• Interactions

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THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE SUMMARIZED

• 1. Difference between knowing something
• directly and knowing about it.
• 2. Difference between knowing facts about
• something (knowing that) and knowing how
• to do something.

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SKEPTICISM AND THE TESTSOF KNOWLEDGE

• One form of skepticism says truth cannot be
• known or found. But to deny all knowledge is
• a statement that refutes itself.
• Skepticism is also the idea that we should
• question and examine statements to make sure
• they are true. This is helpful.

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THREE TESTS OF TRUTH

• The correspondence theory Most favored
• by realists. Something is true because it agrees
  with
• fact. Belief or disbelief do not change truth.
• 2. The coherence theory Favored by
  idealism.Truth
• is found in the consistency of judgments, which
  are
• true if they are consistent with other judgments
  we
• accept as true.

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THREE TESTS OF TRUTH

• 3. The pragmatic theory Truth is not simply
• correspondence between an idea and the focus
• of the idea, and coherence is overly rational.
• Something is true if it works.
• Something is true if it satisfies our desires
• Something is true if it can be experienced
• Something is true if it helps us in our
• physical struggle to live

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THE NATURE AND TESTS OF KNOWLEDGE - CONCLUSIONS

• Once again, a middle way is best.
• Where does truth lie? Beyond experience and
  reason,
• the truth tests have little value. Different
  fields of
• thought find different truths because their
• foundations are different.
• Where does truth lie? Beyond and above all
  systems
• of thought. How we approach truth is not the
  bottom
• line.