Skepticism by Pritchard Duncan

What is skepticism?

Doubt in entities

What are the two main forms of skepticism?

Healthy skepticism: A balanced degree of doubt

Radical skepticism: A philosophical viewpoint that asserts having certainty in knowledge is impossible

What is relativism?

The philosophical idea that truth is relative to subjective opinion

What is fallibility?

The tendency to make mistakes or be wrong

What are the three constituents of knowledge?

1. S believes in p

2. p is true

3. S is justified in believing that p

What are two forms of reason?

1. Epistemic reason: Justification or fact supporting a belief, making it rational or true

2. Prudential reason: Something which it would be prudent for you to believe

What is propositional knowledge?

Knowledge where a proposition is a statement that describes things as being a certain way

What is the radical skeptical argument?

We lack epistemic reason to support our beliefs

What is foundationalism?

A epistemological theory that claims there exist self-evident justified beliefs that act as a foundation, upon which other beliefs are built and justified

What are the two key features of the radical skeptical hypothesis?

1. A scenario that is indistinguishable from one’s experiences

2. A scenario in which one’s belief’s are mostly false

What is the ‘evil demon’ hypothesis?

A radical skeptical thought experiment, proposed by Rene Descartes, suggesting a powerful, malicious demon, is deceiving you about everything

What is the closure principle of knowledge?

The idea that knowledge is preserved

What three inconsistent claims make up the radical skeptical paradox?

1. We are unable to know the denials of a radical skeptical hypothesis 

2. The Closure Principle 

3. We take ourselves to have lots of knowledge of everyday claims

What were the three proposed solutions to the radical skeptical paradox?

1. Commonsense

2. Contextualism

3. Rational evaluation hinges

What is conviction?

Deep, reasoned settledness

What is intellectual humility?

The respectful way in which she intellectually engages with other people