Theory of Knowledge

CHAPTER 1

Aims of this chapter This chapter is aimed to help the students to know:

1. what “knowledge” is defined

2. Know what sources of knowledge comes from

3. Understand how knowledge is justified

4. Realize what criticism has been made to the theory of Knowledge

Definition of Knowledge

Knowledge

-Socrates asked Theaetetus, a student, what he thought knowledge was

-The answer was

-Is it what you call knowledge?

-What did Socrates call? The examples of knowledge?

Knowledge is all the subjects he is taught by his teacher: such subjects as astronomy, natural history, mathematics and so on.

-Some people define knowledge as a means/tool that can help people to know what the truth or falsehood, right or wrong, bad or good is. Some people define it as the truth, the rights, or goodness itself.

-In Cambodian Society, without knowledge you will be considered as a blind man. Why?

Sources of Knowledge

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Rationalism (Reasoning) -Attaining knowledge of the existence of things through the exercise of reason alone

◦ Do you realize that you exist? How? BY REASON OR REASONS

-Some knowledge is innate◦ If you do not have innate knowledge of the general grammatical principles, how you can learn

more language? ◦ Like a computer, just imagine if you do not have some PC systems, how will you install any

programs in it?◦ Does God exist? Do you have a soul before you incarnate into what you are now? ◦ Look at human biology, is it a work of design or just the accident? ◦ Whatever, you still need to argue or reason to make sure that you have enough evidence to

support it.

-Part of deductive system and can be explained within that system◦ Deductive System=Capacity to draw inferences

EX. All research textbooks contain a chapter on sampling.

This book is a research text

Therefore, this book contains a chapter on sampling.

◦ A priori Knowledge is to know something without doing any research, without doing a field study or going into the lab, without doing any experiments. ◦ If A taller than B and B is taller than C, A can not fail to be taller than C.◦ 2+2=4, do you need to do experiment?

◦ What else you can think of?

Empiricism -You can get knowledge based on the experience you have.

Any Examples?

-No innate Ideas or Knowledge: Mind is a blank tablet (a tabula rasa) at birth. ◦ Knowledge comes to us via senses.◦ Seeing is believing◦ Nothing in the mind that has not first been in the senses

-The rejection of reason◦ No a priori, everything is the result of a posteriori (thing can not be known to be

true without some help or support from experience)

-Reason cannot prove the existence of anything◦ Can anyone prove:

◦ the existence of the external world? ◦ The necessary causal connection in nature◦ Existence of the self◦ Existence of either material or immaterial substance

Are there other sources of Knowledge?

-Feeling? Dreaming?

Several people went to Vihear Saur to ask for a child or a winning lottery.

Knowledge and Justification

-Quantity and quality of evidence◦ Witnessing the events or receiving information from a reliable witness◦ Photographs, sound recordings, documents, DNA samples, fingerprints,

other physical evidence that attests to what happened◦ A competent authority: one with training, experience and expertise to make

judgment in such as matter.◦ The use of appropriately sophisticated or refined equipment for making any

relevant observations or test.◦ Sufficient numbers of tests or observations.

-Predictive and explanatory power

-Reasonableness and probability ◦ Sex work should be legalized because sex workers will be protected by law;

less violence to the sex workers in the country that has law to protect them; less HIV/AIDs;….

-Reliable Methods of belief acquisition◦ You can cheat 100 time when you write a cheating note on your palm.

-Foundational piece of knowledge◦ If something you said have the relationship to other beliefs known as being

true then you do not need to prove it. ◦ All people die is true, then why I need to prove that Mr. A, as a person, also

dies?

-Coherence

-Immunity to doubt

-The tripartite definition of knowledge◦ It can be a knowledge only if it meets three conditions: justification, truth

and belief.

Knowledge and Scepticism

If everything is in doubt, then there is no what you can call knowledge.

-Philosophical doubt or metaphysical doubt◦ It goes beyond the ordinary feeling of uncertainty or psychological doubts◦ It is said that knowledge not only involved with experience alone but the

concept + background information + experience. However, concept can be revised. So if it is revised then it is not true all the time.

-Global Doubt◦ Nothing is considered as knowledge. ◦ Easy to be defeated but if we are not sure that everything we know is true

then this doubt can be applied. ◦ If you are not sure you are dreaming or not◦ If you do not know if you know your lesson ◦ If you are not sure if you are full ◦ If you are not sure if you love someone

-Externalism and internalism about knowledge◦ Externalist believes that someone might meet all the conditions necessary

for possession of knowledge without knowing that he knows.◦ You said you do not know the lesson but whenever you do the exam you get high score◦ Or your boss asks you to do something you can do.

• Internalist believes that true knower knows that all the conditions for knowledge have been met. No accidence.

• Ex.1: You want to be a successful businessman/woman, you have to know ….leadership, management, finance, accounting….

• Ex.2: S knows P only if• P is true• S believes that P• S is justified in believing P, and • There is no element of luck or accident in S’s believing p on

the basis of the justification he knows himself to have.

For the sceptics, you can not either Internalist or Externalist

If you are not sure it is an apple, you can not claim that you know it is apple or not apple

Even many conditions can be met but

we probably can not exactly meet all

conditions. We still do not know if it is

sweet apple, spoiled apple,…

some of us experienced buying not

what we expected

Form (quantity) is easy to explain because it is

what we all together assume and accept

but the substance (quality) is difficult to explain

-illusion◦ A large jumbo jet in the distance looks small◦ If my hand is cold then water that is only lukewarm may feel hot to me◦ If the conditions, for example the lighting, were non-standard I might see,

say purple object as black ◦ If I am in an unusual condition- dehydrate, drugged, ill- everything may seem

blurry to me◦ If I experience a mirage or other hallucination or an after-image I may have a

rich array of sense data that have no external cause at all.

-Dream: can we even dream that we are pinching her/himself? ◦ If you can dream like that, then there is no way to clarify if you are now

dreaming or awake. -Deception:

Assignment -Realism

-Idealism

-Phenomenalism