PHI 101 - Epistemology Exam With Actual Questions And
Detailed Answers 2024-2025
Epistemology - Answer - branch or subdivision of philosophy which is devoted to the
theory of knowledge, its acquisition, and its limitations.
- Descartes' 'project'
Dogmatism - Answer Q: "Can we have knowledge?"
A: "Yes, we CAN have knowledge."
Types:
1) Radical _______
2) Mitigated _______
Radical Dogmatism - Answer "Anyone can know everything."
Mitigated Dogmatism - Answer "Some people have some knowledge."
Scepticism - Answer Q: "Can we have knowledge?"
A: "No, we cannot have knowledge."
Types:
1) Radical _____
2) Mitigated _____
Radical Skepticism - Answer "No one can know anything."
This position maintains that knowledge is, in principle, impossible to attain. That is, it is
impossible to be certain that our beliefs meet the criterion of truth. Thus we have no
knowledge.
,Mitigated Skepticism - Answer "No one does know anything."
Relativism - Answer "What is true is 'true' for you."
- The Problem with _______: it leads to inconsistencies and contradictions or a denial of
truth
Types"
1) Absolute ____
2) Mitigated ____
Absolute Relativism - Response "Truth is relative to each individual."
Mitigated Relativism - Response "Truth is relative to the culture in which you are
raised."
Rationalism - Response Q: "How do we obtain knowledge?"
A: "through reason alone"
Empiricism - Response Q: "How do we obtain knowledge?"
A: "through the senses alone"
Knowledge - Answer a. beliefs
b. true
c. justified
Justification - Answer (how we know our beliefs correspond with reality) types:
1. Internalism
2. Externalism
, Internalism - Answer (justification rests upon a belief's relation to other beliefs) types:
1. Foundationalism
2. Coherentism
Foundationalism - Answer "Some beliefs are terminal or self-justifying, all others are
derived from them."
Coherentism - Answer "All beliefs are justified by their relations to all your other beliefs;
no terminal beliefs."
Externalism - Justification depends upon a belief's formation; the process in which the
belief was formed provides justification Cognitive Science - 'correct' brain states
Epistemology three questions
1. What is knowledge? - That is, what counts as knowledge as opposed to belief or
opinion?
2. Can we have knowledge? - Are human beings capable of knowing anything?
3. How do we get knowledge? - What is the process by which knowledge is obtained?
sources of beliefs - Answer two kinds:
- A Priori: require no experience (analytic propositions)
- A Posteriori: require experience (synthetic propositions)
A Priori - Answer beliefs that require no experience (analytic propositions)
A Posteriori - Answer beliefs that require experience (synthetic propositions)
beliefs - Answer a cognitive state of which you are aware
- hunch
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