belief truth knowledge

8/18/2019 Belief Truth Knowledge

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Belief, Truth, &

Knowledge

The Challenge of Skepticism


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What do you see?


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What do you see?


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Which centre circle is

bigger?


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ptical !llusions

•We all see things differently - especiallymorality

•Senses can deceive us and lead us astray

•Conscience is formed and developed based on our beliefs.

•Why do we have beliefs? What are they?

•How do you know that you are here andnot dreaming?


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Beliefs

• Beliefs are your map of reality - they are the lenses throughwhich you perceive the world.

• your beliefs are the most important part about you

• beliefs have started wars, bridged communities,ended slavery, and so forth

• Beliefs + Desires = Actions

• Problem: there is such thing as False Belief

• we want our beliefs to be true - connects us to reality

• Philosophers have encouraged us to therefore examine our beliefs


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Knowledge

• Knowledge is an attainment concept

• Ex: In basketball we shoot in order to score.Shooting is the activity; Scoring is the attainment

intended• In life, we believe in order to know. Believing is theactivity; Knowledge the intended attainment

• Knowledge = Properly Justified True Belief

• You cannot know something unless you truly believe it.

• Belief alone isn’t sufficient for knowledge - youcan’t believe something that is false either.


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Truth"elati#ism #s$ "ationalism

• Truth is our anchor in the world.

• believing a truth is like hitting the target whereasa falsehood is like missing the mark

• How do we find truth? With Reason.

• Reason connects us to reality and as we will seethere are two different ways of reasoning -Empiricism & Rationalism

• The Philosophy of Relativism claims that all so-calledtruth is relative - no absolute truth

• Very seductive because it can often serve as a

very persuasive excuse for very bad behaviour


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Skepticism, the foundation of"elati#ism

• Skepticism is based on the attitude of doubt.

• True knowledge is uncertain, therefore there is noabsolute truth.

• Religions determine right & wrong and all conceptsof right & wrong are invented by humans.

• Better to use inquiry - all questions lead to discovery.

• “Doubt is the vestibule which all must pass, before they canenter into the temple of truth.”

• Charles Caleb Colton


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"ationalism

• Belief is inevitable in human life and it is Rational.

• Empiricists believe that all knowledge is attained

through sensory experience whereas Rationalists believe that all knowledge is rooted in reason.

• Rationalist statements are true without theuse of senses. (If A is greater than B, and B is

greater than C, then A is great than C)

• Cause and Effect - (yes remember Aquinas) - rockhitting window - we don’t see the cause yet we believe it happened.


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Back to% Belief, Knowledge and Truth

•We believe that humans have the ability to formtheir conscience according to moral principles ofright and wrong, which will then lead them tomake rational reasonable judgements.

•At the foundation of this is the belief that:• We are rational beings.

• We have the ability to reason.

• We have the ability to make decisions freely.

• There is such a thing as right and wrong.

• We have the ability to know what is right and wrong.

• It is better to do what is right rather than what is wrong.


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et's (ractice)

1.Rationalism ____

2.Skepticism ____

3.Empiricism ____

4.Moral Relativism ____

A. all knowledge is rooted insensory experience.

B. all knowledge is rooted inreason and cause and effect.

C. a philosophy of doubt.

D. a philosophy whichclaims there is no absolutetruth.

belief truth knowledge

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