Western Epistemology: Knowledge, Scepticism, Rationalism and Empiricism
Knowledge and scepticism
The exam tests the standard analysis of knowledge as justified true belief (JTB) and the challenge posed by Gettier cases: justified true belief may fail to be knowledge when justification is accidentally connected to truth. Scepticism uses global hypotheses-dreaming, evil demon, brain in a vat-to suspend judgement about the external world.
Rationalism and empiricism
- Rationalism (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz): reason can yield substantive a priori knowledge; innate ideas or innate capacities.
- Empiricism (Locke, Berkeley, Hume): all ideas derive from experience; the mind is a tabula rasa for Locke; Hume analyses causation as constant conjunction and custom.
- Distinctions: a priori/a posteriori; analytic/synthetic; necessary/contingent.
Worked example
Claim: 'I know there is a table here.' On JTB, you need belief, truth, and justification (perception, coherence, testimony). A sceptical hypothesis undercuts justification, not truth: if you might be dreaming, your perceptual justification is defeated. The Gettier lesson: even if true and justified, knowledge can fail if justification is lucky.
Traps
Do not treat JTB as sufficient after Gettier. Do not say rationalists reject experience; they deny that all knowledge comes from it. Do not confuse Hume's scepticism about causation with denial that events occur. Do not define a priori as 'before experience' in a temporal sense only; it means independent of experience for justification.