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4.1.1 Epistemology

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How, if at all, does perception give us knowledge of an external, mind-independent world?

Direct realism, indirect realism and the arguments from perceptual variation, illusion, hallucination and time-lag, Berkeley's idealism and the master argument, and responses including Locke's primary and secondary qualities and Russell's best-hypothesis argument.
A focused answer to AQA A-Level Philosophy on perception, covering direct realism, indirect realism, the arguments from illusion, perceptual variation and hallucination, Berkeley's idealism, and responses including Locke on primary and secondary qualities and Russell's best-hypothesis argument.
11 min answer →

Can substantive knowledge of the world be gained a priori, through rational intuition and deduction?

The intuition and deduction thesis as a rationalist account of a priori knowledge, the meaning of and distinction between intuition and deduction, Descartes' clear and distinct ideas, the cogito as an a priori intuition, the trademark argument and the proof of the external world as a priori deductions, and the empiricist objections that such reasoning yields either certainty without substance or circularity.
A focused answer to AQA A-Level Philosophy epistemology, covering the intuition and deduction thesis, the meanings of intuition and deduction, Descartes' clear and distinct ideas, the cogito as an a priori intuition, the trademark argument and proof of the external world as a priori deductions, and the empiricist objections including the Cartesian circle and Hume's fork.
10 min answer →

How far can sceptical arguments be pushed, and can they be answered?

The distinction between normal incredulity and philosophical scepticism, local and global scepticism, the role of scepticism in epistemology, Descartes' three waves of doubt and the evil demon, and responses including Descartes' own rationalist reconstruction and reliabilist or externalist replies.
A focused answer to AQA A-Level Philosophy epistemology, covering philosophical versus ordinary scepticism, local and global scepticism, Descartes' three waves of doubt and the evil demon, the methodological role of scepticism, and the main responses including Descartes' rationalist reconstruction and reliabilist replies.
10 min answer →

Where do our concepts and knowledge come from, innate ideas or experience?

The empiricist claim that all concepts and substantive knowledge derive from experience, Locke's attack on innatism and the tabula rasa, Hume's impressions and ideas and the missing shade of blue, the rationalist case for innate concepts and a priori knowledge, and the analytic, synthetic, a priori and a posteriori distinctions.
A focused answer to AQA A-Level Philosophy epistemology, covering empiricism and the tabula rasa, Locke's and Hume's accounts of where concepts and knowledge come from, the rationalist case for innate ideas and a priori intuition or deduction, and the analytic, synthetic, a priori and a posteriori distinctions.
11 min answer →

What is propositional knowledge, and can it be defined as justified true belief?

The tripartite (justified true belief) definition of knowledge, the distinction between propositional, ability and acquaintance knowledge, Gettier cases, and the main responses to Gettier including infallibilism, no false lemmas, reliabilism and virtue epistemology.
A focused answer to AQA A-Level Philosophy epistemology, covering the three types of knowledge, the tripartite justified true belief definition, Gettier cases, and the main responses to Gettier (infallibilism, no false lemmas, reliabilism and virtue epistemology).
10 min answer →