Questions tagged [epistemology]
Epistemology is the study of knowledge, acquisition thereof, and the justification of belief in a given claim.
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Is perfection conceivable?
It is a given that we can conceive normal things like a regular hot dog or a space shuttle.
It is also a given that we can conceive perfection in things that are fully understood, like a perfect cube ...
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What are some methods of defining things?
In my experience, many definitions define an object/idea by merely listing it's characteristics. For example:
Avocado
a large, usually pear-shaped fruit having green to blackish skin, a single ...
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Is it possible for a layperson to suitably evaluate scientific disputes?
As a layperson, I try not to fall victim to the Dunning-Kruger effect. As an example, one area where I know that I am vulnerable is when biochemistry intersects with nutrition and disease.
Is it ...
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Is a priori and a posteriori knowledge objective or subjective?
In a description of David Hume, examples of a priori and a posteriori are given:
a posteriori: "Dogs are carnivores"
a priori: "Bachelors are unmarried"
I am having trouble differentiating between ...
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What are some good critical readings of the film The Matrix?
Where might I find some thoughtful philosophical or critical readings of The Matrix, in particular which treat the primary theme of virtual reality?
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Can a lack of knowledge or understanding invalidate a positive claim?
Consider the example of causal determinism. It can be phrased in many ways, all with identical meaning:
- The idea that "every event, including human cognition and behavior, decision and action, is ...
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Why don't color blind people have a different theory of physics? [closed]
I have heard from numerous sources that our senses cannot be relied upon and therefore all knowledge that we have is subjective & relative. In other words, many people claim that variance in ...
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How to characterize Kant's usage of the term "noumena"?
Wikipedia gives an explanation of Kant's usage of the term noumena, part of which reads as follows:
By Kant's account, when we employ a concept to describe or categorize noumena (the objects of ...
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What is the best scientific argumentation against the Dust Theory?
The "Dust Theory", by Greg Egan, states that...
... there is no difference, even in principle, between
physics and mathematics, and that all mathematically possible
structures exist, among ...
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Are there any philosophers who advance a non-foundationalist absolutism?
I'm sure my terminology is poor here (background in math more than philosophy), but are there any philosophers who have advanced a distinctly non-relativist epistemology without ultimately coming out ...
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Representation versus cartography in Deleuze and Guattari?
Can someone help me contextualize and concretize the theme of representation (what they sometimes call "tracing") versus cartography ("mapping," "diagramming," even "meta-modeling", etc.) in Deleuze ...
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To what extent do we choose our beliefs?
Are we free to choose our beliefs? Or is our belief in a proposition something that is thrust upon us by the weight of the evidence we have in favor and against the truth of it?
For example, is it ...
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Can Kant's Copernican revolution be viewed as an extension of Wittgensteinian language games?
Forgive me if this question is clumsily posed.
The so-called 'Copernican revolution' of declaring the mind as bringing objecthood and properties to objects, rather than their perception bringing ...
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How can adults understand the feelings of infants?
Freud claimed that we forget our childhood, not because our brain is not powerful enough to retain memories, but because our first three years of childhood are so daunting and difficult that our brain ...
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how are rationalism and empiricism related to modern epistemology? Should epistemology be seen as incorporating both? [closed]
Epistemology by simplest definition is the theory of knowledge and one of the things it addresses is the source of knowledge. On the other hand we know that rationalism (deduction) and empiricism (...
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