PPT-Knowledge empiricism Michael Lacewing

enquiriesalevelphilosophycouk Analytic and synthetic propositions An analytic proposition is true or false in virtue of the meanings of the words Squares have four sides Not all analytic propositions are obvious . enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Am I a brain in a vat?. Knowledge is not belief (even true belief). Are my reasons for my beliefs sufficient for knowledge?. Maybe all my experiences are fed to me by a supercomputer. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. The good. ‘What is the good for human beings?’. . What . is it that we are aiming . at?. What. . would provide a successful, fulfilling, good life. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Stealing. Steal: . to take someone else’s property with no intention of returning it and without their permission (or without the legal right to do so. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. (c) Michael Lacewing. Hedonist act utilitarianism. Actions . are morally right or wrong depending on their consequences and nothing else. An act is right if it maximises what is good.. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Utilitarianism. A. ct . utilitarianism:. . an action is right if it . maximises. happiness, and wrong if it does not. . I. f . telling a lie creates more happiness than telling the truth (or keeping silent), then telling a lie is morally right. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. (c) Michael Lacewing. Cognitivism v. non-cognitivism. What are we doing when we. make moral judgments?. Cognitivism: moral judgments, e.g. ‘Murder is wrong’. Aim to describe how the world is. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing . ‘Innatism’ about knowledge. The claim that there is some innate knowledge. The debate is about propositional knowledge not ability knowledge. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing . The origin of knowledge. Does all our knowledge come from experience, as empiricists claim?. Descartes thinks not. He uses deductive reasoning: if the premises and true, the conclusion must be true. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Metaethics. What is morality, philosophical speaking?. Can ethical claims be objectively true or false?. Are moral properties part of reality?. Cognitivism: moral judgments, e.g. ‘Murder is wrong’. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Idealism. Idealism: everything that exists is a mind or dependent on a . mind. Berkeley: . to . be is to be perceived (or to perceive): . esse est percipi . enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing . What do we perceive?. Direct realism: we perceive physical objects, which exist independent of our experience. Physical objects existed before minds. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing . Analytic and synthetic propositions. An analytic proposition is true or false in virtue of the meanings of the . words. Squares have four sides. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Substance and properties. A substance is an entity, a thing, that does not depend on another entity for its continued existence. . It has ‘ontological independence’. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Simulated killing. The dramatisation, i.e. enactment, . of killing within a fictional context, e.g. in video games, films and . plays. Playing the killer.