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ScotlandPhilosophy

Knowledge and Doubt

4 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How does Hume's empiricism explain knowledge through experience, and what limits does it place on what we can know?

Empiricism and Hume: the claim that all knowledge derives from sense experience, the distinction between impressions and ideas, the copy principle, the fork between relations of ideas and matters of fact, and Hume's sceptical conclusions about causation and the self.
How Hume's empiricism grounds knowledge in sense experience: impressions and ideas, the copy principle, Hume's fork (relations of ideas versus matters of fact), and his sceptical conclusions about causation and the self.
12 min answer →

What are the strengths and weaknesses of rationalism and empiricism, and how do they answer the problem of knowledge?

Evaluating rationalism and empiricism: the strengths and weaknesses of Descartes' rationalism and Hume's empiricism, the main objections to each, and a comparative assessment of how well each answers the sceptical problem of knowledge.
How to evaluate Descartes' rationalism and Hume's empiricism in SQA Higher Philosophy: the strengths and weaknesses of each, the key objections (the Cartesian circle, the limits of the copy principle), and a comparative judgement on the problem of knowledge.
12 min answer →

How does Descartes use systematic doubt to seek certain knowledge, and what does his rationalism claim?

Rationalism and Descartes: the method of doubt, the three waves of doubt (the senses, the dream argument, the evil demon), the cogito as the first certainty, and the rationalist claim that reason is the foundation of knowledge.
How Descartes uses the method of doubt in the Meditations to seek certainty: the three waves of doubt, the cogito (I think, therefore I am) as the indubitable foundation, and the rationalist claim that reason is the primary source of knowledge.
12 min answer →

What is knowledge, how does it differ from belief, and what challenge does scepticism pose to our claims to know?

The problem of knowledge: the distinction between knowledge and belief, the justified true belief account of knowledge, the sources of knowledge (reason and sense experience), and the sceptical challenge that we cannot be certain of what we claim to know.
How SQA Higher Philosophy sets up the problem of knowledge: knowledge versus belief, the justified true belief definition, reason and sense experience as sources of knowledge, and the sceptical challenge that undermines our certainty.
11 min answer →