HZT4U1 Unit 2: Epistemology Study Guide

A comprehensive vocabulary review of Unit 2 Epistemology covering major philosophers (Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant), types of knowledge, theories of truth, and linguistic relativism.

Epistemology

The branch of philosophy that studies knowledge, truth, and justified belief.

Practical Knowledge

Skills-based knowledge, often described as "knowing how" (e.g., swimming or cooking).

Knowledge by Acquaintance

Knowledge gained through familiarity rather than facts, such as recognizing a person's voice.

Factual Knowledge

Knowledge based on facts or truths, such as knowing that water freezes at $0^{\circ}\text{C}$.

Rationalism

The belief that reason is more trustworthy than the senses and that knowledge can come from reason alone.

Methodological Skepticism

René Descartes' method of doubting anything that could possibly be false in order to find certainty.

Justified True Belief (JTB)

The traditional definition of knowledge, which requires a belief, that the belief is true, and that there is justification for it.

Gettier Problem

Situations where justified true belief fails to count as knowledge because the truth of the belief is based on luck.

Empiricism

The theory that all knowledge comes from sensory experience, such as touching fire to learn about heat.

A Priori Knowledge

Knowledge gained independently of experience, such as mathematics and logic.

A Posteriori Knowledge

Knowledge gained through experience and observation, such as knowing that lemons taste sour.

Tabula Rasa

John Locke's concept that the mind begins as a "blank slate" and humans learn through experience.

Primary Qualities

Qualities existing independently of perception, such as shape, size, motion, and mass.

Secondary Qualities

Qualities dependent on sensory perception, such as colour, taste, smell, and sound.

Esse Est Percipi

A principle by George Berkeley meaning "to be is to be perceived."

Idealism

The branch of philosophy suggesting that reality is fundamentally mental or based on ideas.

Immaterialism

The belief that physical matter does not exist independently of perception.

Problem of Induction

David Hume's argument that past experiences do not guarantee future outcomes; logic cannot prove the sun will rise tomorrow.

Causality (Hume's Definition)

The mind's assumption of a connection between events based on habit, as we never directly see one event cause another.

Correspondence Theory

The theory that truth is whatever matches reality (e.g., "The grass is green" is true if the grass actually is green).

Coherence Theory

The theory that truth is what fits logically into a pre-existing system, such as mathematics.

Pragmatism

The theory that truth depends on its usefulness or practical effects/functioning for survival.

Transcendental Idealism

Immanuel Kant's theory that knowledge is shaped by how reality appears to the mind rather than how it is in itself.

Veil of Perception

The concept that the mind filters experience, preventing humans from ever perceiving reality directly.

Phenomena

Objects as they appear to and are experienced by humans after being filtered through the mind.

Noumena

The true essence of objects as they exist independently of human perception; they are inaccessible to humans.

Transcendental Aesthetics

The first level of Kant’s understanding, where space and time organize perception.

Temporality

The concept of time progression between the past, present, and future.

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

The theory that language significantly influences a speaker's thought patterns and perception of the world.

Hermeneutics

The study of interpreting texts and meaning, such as religious texts or historical documents.

Cognitive Toolkit

Lera Boroditsky's term for the cultural knowledge and unique ways of categorizing reality provided by a specific language.