Definitions & Miscellany
A term coming from the Greek roots “episteme,” meaning “knowledge,” and “logos” meaning “logic” or “rationale.”
What is "epistemology"?
This must be added to true belief to fulfill both necessary and sufficient conditions for knowledge.
What is logos (or justification)?
Establish something “firm and lasting in the sciences.”
What is Descartes' project in the Meditations?
The original perception of an ____________ is when we hear, see, feel, love, hate, desire, or will. These are “lively” and clear when we have them.
What is an impression?
The belief that mathematics, and, in fact, everything, is essentially based in logic.
What is "logicism"?
A theory about existence, change, time, cause-effect, relation, space, substance, identity.
What is metaphysics?
The standard form of propositional knowledge.
What is "S knows that p"?
1. Senses; 2. Dreams; 3. Evil Genius
What are Descartes' 3 levels of doubt?
When we reflect upon impressions, we have ______ of them.
What are ideas?
Russell's theory that says: there is a hidden logical form not immediately evident in grammatical form; that is to say, it is not evident in the surface structure.
What is his Theory of Descriptions?
This theory maintains that all of our knowledge is built off of one or a few basic statements or axioms.
What is foundationalism?
According to this theory, compounds have a logos—namely an analysis of their elements; elements, however, have no logos, they can only be named.
What is the Dream Theory?
I think, therefore, I am.
What is Descartes' cogito argument (what he uses to establish a foundation in knowledge).
Hume’s distinction between Relations of Ideas and Matters of Fact (basically, his version of the a priori/ a posteriori distinction).
What is "Hume’s Fork"?
Wittgenstein’s theory of linguistic representation between language and the world, a one-to-one correspondence (or isomorphic relationship) between language and the world.
What is the Picture Theory of Meaning?
Non-empirical reason is the source of all knowledge.
What is rationalism?
This Greek word served as the logos for Plato in his dialogue the Meno. It is the root for our word amnesia.
What is anamnesis?
Descartes' argument brings with it this circular reasoning: he invokes clear and distinct ideas (truth rule) that comes to him from God, however, these clear and distinct ideas are what he uses to “prove” God’s existence.
What is the Cartesian Circle?
Beliefs that claim to report the nature of existing things; however, they are always contingent; that is, they always depend on our senses (e.g., “Chicago is located on the shore of Lake Michigan” is known through the senses).
What are "Matters of Fact"?
His theory of Descriptions suggest that behind the surface level of language is a "trio of generalizations."
Who is Bertrand Russell?
Sensory experience is the source of all knowledge
What is empiricism?
1. the expression of one’s thoughts in words
2. enumerating all of something’s parts or elements
3. the expression of a mark or a sign by which the object of inquiry is different from everything else.
What are the 3 possible meanings of “logos” in Theaetetus?
This argument maintains that the idea of infinite qualities must have come from a being that manifests these qualities, a being greater than Descartes himself.
What is the Causal Argument for the Existence of God (aka Trademark Argument)?
Beliefs grounded wholly on associations formed within the mind; they are capable of demonstration because they have no external referent (these include the “sciences of Geometry, Algebra, and Arithmetic”).
What are "Relations of Ideas"?
According to Wittgenstein, if a _____________ is correctly represented we designate it a truth-value of true; but if it is incorrect, we’ll designate it a truth-value of false.
What is a "logical picture"?