Epistemology - Exam 1

What is Epistemology?

The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge.
Basic: “What is knowledge”

What Makes Plato and Descartes Rationalists?

Innate knowledge: Both claim certain ideas are accessed by reason alone

A priori reasoning: Emphasize deduction and clear, distinct ideas over sense experience
Skepticism of the senses: Plato’s cave illustrates how appearances mislead; Descartes’ demon hypothesis doubts sensory input until reason affirms truth (Cogito)

Locke, Berkeley, and Russell as Empiricists

Core Empiricist Tenets:
Tabula Rasa: Mind begins as blank at birth; all ideas derive from experience (Locke).
Sense-based knowledge: All we know about the world comes through our senses (Locke, Berkeley).
Rejection of innate ideas: Deny a priori ideas; all concepts reflect prior impressions (Russell denies innates in favor of acquaintance and propositional knowledge)
Primary qualities (extension, shape) exist in objects unconditionally
Secondary qualities (color, taste) depend on observers

The problem of universals

Definition: Asks whether properties exist independently of particular objects or only in our minds
Realism: Universals exist in reality; either in abstract form (platonic realism) or instantiated in objects (Aristotelian immanent realism)
Nominalism: Denies mind-independent universals; only individual particulars exist and general terms are mere names

Does Language Determine Thought

Linguistic Determinism (Strong Sapir-Whorf): Language wholly constrains thought; without language, no thought
Linguistic Relativity (Weak Sapir-Whorf): Language influences but does not fully determine thought
Language of thought hypothesis: Thought occurs in a mental language independent of public language

The problem of demarcation and falsifiability

How to distinguish science from non-science
Falsifiability (Popper): A theory is scientific only if it is falsifiable; it makes predications that can be tested and potentially refuted. Rejects verification (logical positivism); favors bold conjectures and refutations

Paradigms and Anomalies in philosophy of science

Paradigm: A paradigm is a framework of shared theories, methods, and standards within a scientific community. Guides normal science - puzzle solving within established rules
Anomalies: Observations that contradict a paradigm’s expectation. Lead to crises when persistent, prompting a scientific revolution and paradigm shift

Feminist Critiques: Lorraine Code and Evelyn Fox Keller

Common Challenges: Question the neutrality of the knower in epistemology; emphasize situated, gendered knowers. Critique androcentric biases in science - choice of problems, metaphors, methods, institutional structures

Lorraine Code: Knowledge as a social construct validated through dialogue; calls for reconceiving epistemology to include gendered perspectives; cognitive authority and credibility as gendered phenomena

Evelyn Fox Keller: Examines gendered metaphors in biology and physics; calls for a gender free science that recognizes effect of language and metaphor on scientific models; critiques ideals of objectivity rooted in masculine norms

Carroll’s metaphors

Lewis Carroll' challenges meanings of words and highlights how language frames understanding

Metaphor and thought

Thibodeau and Boroditsky show single-word metaphors shape reasoning about social issues like crimes, a covert framing effect

Feynman on law seeking

Richard Feynman’s process for seeking new laws emphasizes conjecture and empirical testing as iterative discovery