Task 1: Sources Of Knowledge

Front 1

What is knowledge?

Back 1

a certain and true belief

- belief = you must believe in it

- certain = you must have certainty that you have true knowledge

- true = what you believe must really exist

Front 2

What are three different perspectives on the sources of knowledge?

Back 2

- Ancient Greek view: knowledge comes from people with moral and social authority

- Religious view: Scripture and 'God' is ultimate truth

-Science view: objective observation and experiment

Front 3

Scientific fact as knowledge is propagated by which two schools of thought?

Back 3

- Empiricism: (Berkeley and Hume), believe that knowledge should be formed around sense perception

- Positivism: believes that knowledge derives from facts of experience

Front 4

What are the two issues with the claim that science derives from facts?

Back 4

1. Concerns the nature of fact and how scientists are supposed to have access to them

2. Concerns how laws and theories are then formed from fact

Front 5

What are the three components of the position that fact is the basis of science?

not a good view according to Chalmers

Back 5

1. Facts are directly obtained by careful, unprejudiced observers via the senses

2. Facts are prior and independent of theory

3. Facts constitute a firm and reliable foundation for scientific knowledge

Front 6

Chalmers on knowledge:

Back 6

- presupposes that there is a single, unique physical world which exists independently from observers

- absurd to think that facts as statements enter the brain directly

- a statement can only be formulated within the appropriate framework and knowledge of how to apply it. Without a framework we can't interpret stimuli.

Front 7

Chalmers on observation:

Back 7

Concludes that observations for providing a basis of scientific knowledge are both objective and fallible

- objective because they can be publicly tested and fallible in their potential to be falsified by future procedures

Front 8

Why are experimental results better than regular observable facts?

Back 8

Experiments are difficult orchestrate thus are not straightforwardly given to the senses

- However, results can be deficient if the knowledge informing them is deficient

They are also FALLIBLE

Front 9

What is knowledge according to Ayer?

Back 9

is justified true belief

- the necessary and sufficient condition for knowing that something is the case are;

1) knowledge is true

2) one is sure of their knowledge

3) one has the right to be sure

Front 10

How do we get knowledge?

Back 10

through associations between observations

- regular associations --> general ideas --> associations between ideas --> laws + theories

Front 11

Why are some facts seen as more reliable than others?

Back 11

reliableness comes from how valuable or esteemed we see the source --> higher up the source --> more believable

Empiricist: unprejudiced observation makes it reliable

Front 12

Is knowledge objective, if so, how?

Back 12

- Knowledge is objective as it can take a life of its own

- the transference of knowledge makes it objective --> as it becomes independent of the individual

Front 13

What are facts?

Back 13

are claims about the world that can be directly established by careful, unprejudiced use of the senses

Front 14

Why are visual experiences not determined solely by the object viewed?

Back 14

1) perception plays a large role in 'seeing' - people see different things

2) seeing is subjective, dependent on experience, knowledge, expectations of the observer

3) people may see the same thing but interpret them differently

4) we can't change or control what we see

5) all observers generally see the same thing

Front 15

Why should facts precede theory?

not a good theory according to Chalmers

Back 15

1) first establish facts, then build theory to fit them

2) search for relevant facts, need to be guided by our current state of knowledge

3) truth or falsity of observation statements can still be established in a direct way by observation

Front 16

Why are observation statements not derived from the senses?

Back 16

because someone must learn through trial and error that not everything that looks like an apple is an apple

Front 17

What does the recording of observable facts require?

Back 17

1) reception from stimuli

2) knowledge in appropriate conceptual scheme and how to apply it

Instruments?

Front 18

Is observation passive or private?

Back 18

private: however the observable facts about things eventuate as a result from an active and public process

Front 19

Why should we test facts?

Back 19

1) facts which constitute the basis for science come in the form of experimental results

2) to acquire facts relevant for identification and specification of the various processes, it is necessary to practically intervene to isolate the processes under investigation and eliminate the effects of others