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Epistemology - Scepticism - Coggle Diagram
Epistemology - Scepticism
Limits if knowledge.
Local Doubt: Ordinary scepticism, which is to doubt something in normal terms - whether it'll rain today; whether I'm liked..
Radical / Glocal Doubt: Philosophical scepticism, which is to radically doubt a whole belief system - whether anything is actually real in the way I think it is...
Infinite regress of justification - idea that there is no fundamental principle or foundational truth to base knowledge on, why, why, why etc
Descartes' Waves of Doubt (radical doubt)
Wave 1: Doubting the senses
Illusions + Hallucinations
Wave 2: Dream / Waking distinction
Wave 3: Evil Demon Hypothesis
Analogy of apple basket: the only way to know there are no rotten apples is to remove each apple from the basket and only put the ones he was sure were not rotten back in
Cogito Ergo Sum = 'I think, therefore I am'
First certain foundational belief.
Descartes' Proof of the External World
From cogito he asks is the external world subject to my will or not? No - because I can't help everything that's going on in my perception so its outside of my willpower. My willpower is essential to my nature so it's not down to me and must be external. But what is the external thing? It's either mind-independant matter or perception from God. Cannot just be God because God id not a deceiver - omni qualities don't allow it.
Descartes' Proof of God
TMA: Must be a God because he has perfect idea of God which is not an empirical observation. Only source of that idea must have been God himself.
Issues with Descartes' method of doubt
Issue 1: Is his Method of Doubt sincere?
Issue 2: Why not doubt each belief, one by one?
Reply: Impossible task.
Issue 3: Paradox to doubt all our beliefs
You cannot literally know nothing - you would know that you know nothing. To doubt all your beliefs you would have to leave behind the belief that you had beliefs to doubt in the first place.
Leads to one indubitable belief - can be criticism or support.
Empiricism on Philisophical scepticism
Locke: 'Substantia' is beyond the limits of our understanding
(In John Locke’s philosophy, substantia (substance) is the underlying, unknown substratum that supports and holds together the observable qualities of an object.)