Problems of Philosophy: Knowledge, Metaphysics, and God
The Problems of Philosophy
The Basic Problems of Philosophy
The basic problems of philosophy are associated with theoretical philosophy. They can be grouped into two main areas: theoretical knowledge and metaphysics.
Theoretical Knowledge
This philosophical discipline deals with knowledge itself, exploring its origin, scope, and validity. Key questions include:
- Is knowledge possible?
Possible answers:
- No (except for philosophical knowledge)
- Yes (leading to questions about its origin, which can be addressed through rationalism and empiricism)
- What is truth?
Possible answers:
- Truth is a social construct; it is relative.
- Truth is correspondence between thought and reality; truth is coherence and avoids contradiction.
- Can we know reality?
Possible answers:
- Yes (Realism)
- No (Spiritualism)
Metaphysical Issues
Metaphysics studies the nature of reality, leading to different perspectives:
- Materialism: Reality is material.
- Spiritualism: Reality is purely spiritual or ideal.
- Dualism: Reality is both material and ideal.
The Problem of Knowledge
Is Knowledge Possible?
- Philosophical Skepticism: This view argues that humans cannot know the truth.
- Michel de Montaigne (16th Century): A skeptic who claimed humans cannot know reality because our knowledge is limited to sensory experience. He argued there’s no absolute truth, only multiple perspectives.
- René Descartes (16th-17th Century): Used methodical doubt (not skeptical doubt) to find an undeniable truth. If found, skepticism would be refuted. Descartes’ doubt aimed to find a foundation for knowledge, unlike skepticism, which doubts for the sake of doubting.
Arguments of Cartesian Doubt:
- Senses can deceive us.
- Dreams can deceive us; we don’t always know when we’re dreaming. This compromises imagination and memory. Mathematical truths, however, seem to remain valid.
- A malicious demon could be deceiving us. This leads to the question: If everything is false, how can I even think? This leads to Descartes’ first truth: “I think, therefore I am.”
This gives rise to modern subjectivism, with two conclusions: the existence of the self and the existence of thought.
What is the Origin of Knowledge?
- Rationalism: Reason is the only reliable source of knowledge. Reason, understanding, or thought are independent of experience. Rationalists believe in innate ideas, independent of experience. Mathematics is the model for science.
- Empiricism: Experience is the only reliable source of knowledge. Both the source and validity of knowledge depend on experience. All ideas come from experience. Physics and the inductive method are the models for science.
- David Hume: All mental content are perceptions, divided into:
- Impressions: Vivid, strong, fundamental internal and external experiences.
- Ideas: Copies of impressions, which can be:
- Simple: Derived from a single impression. The difference between impression and idea is intensity; the idea is less intense.
- Complex: Formed from simple ideas through laws of association (similarity, contrast, cause-effect).
- Kantian Apriorism: Kant synthesized rationalism and empiricism. He agreed that knowledge begins with experience but argued that the subject contributes something as well. Two faculties of knowledge: senses (sensitive knowledge) and understanding (intellectual knowledge).
- Sensitive Knowledge: All knowledge has:
- Subject/Content: Given in experience (phenomena).
- Form: Given by the subject, prior to experience (space and time).
- Understanding: Sensitivity without understanding is blind; it provides data but cannot process it. Understanding makes sense of the data from the senses.
What is Truth?
Truth as correspondence: Truth is the adaptation of the mind to reality. However, not all philosophers accept this. Relativists argue there’s no universal truth, while pragmatists believe truth is what is useful. Other views include coherence and consensus theories of truth.
- Relativism: There are no absolute truths. Truth depends on the subject and context.
- Subjectivism: Truth depends on the individual. What is true for one person may not be true for another. Truth is perspective.
- Constructivism: Truth is constructed.
- Cultural Relativism: Each culture has its own customs and rules. Each culture believes its own way of life is best.
- Scientific Relativism (Thomas Kuhn): Each historical period has its own model of doing science, reflecting its worldview. Science evolves.
Is Reality True?
Reality exists whether we know it or perceive it.
- Realism and Representation Theory
- Naive Realism: Humans directly perceive reality as it is.
- Representational Theory of Reality (Descartes): Senses provide information about reality, but the mind creates a representation of reality. We know the representation, not reality itself.
- Idealism (George Berkeley): We cannot prove the existence of external reality from perceptions, which are subjective states of consciousness.
- Critical Realism (John Locke): Mental content and perceptions come from experience (external and internal). Primary qualities belong to reality, while secondary qualities belong to the individual.
- Representational Theory and Science: Most scientists accept that the mind represents reality. The scientific picture of the world differs from our everyday experience.
Mind-Brain Relationship
We distinguish between:
- Physical phenomena: External, measurable, occur in time, intersubjective.
- Psychic phenomena: Internal, measurable in terms of duration, intentional, subjective.
Theories
- Dualism (Descartes): The brain is material and mechanical. The mind is distinct from the body, free, and capable of thought and action.
- Materialism: The mind depends on the brain. Only matter exists. The mind is a product of the brain.
- Spiritualism: All reality is spiritual. The mind is superior to the brain. Phenomena like love and freedom cannot be reduced to matter. These shape personality and human identity.
Does God Exist?
Theism is the belief in the existence of God. It is divided into:
Monotheism: belief in one God
Polytheism: belief in more than one god
Atheism: No belief in God
Agnosticism: it says you can not prove the existence and nonexistence of God
- Arguments to prove the existence of God
Kant summarizes the evidence demonstrating the existence of God
- Ontological argument
S. Anselmo has an idea of a being greater, of which there can be no other.
Descartes has the idea of perfection. The perfect being must exist, because otherwise there would not be perfect because life is the first of the perfections.
Kant makes a critique of this by saying that to affirm the existence of something not enough to have an idea, if you need to have experience of that thing
- Cosmological Arguments
Yodas Santo Tomas said that one-fifth tract, which is the way of order, are cosmological.
Take the path of contingency as a model and says that all beings are contingent, ie they do not have in themselves the reason for their existence, and which owe their existence to others.
You can not go to infinity in a series of contingent beings, and that one has to be first, necessary and not contingent, and this is God, who is the cause contingent beings.
Kant duce the above argument is abusing the category of causality. To determine the cause of something must have experience of that something and God does not have experience.
- Teleological argument
S. Tomas takes the fifth way to say that all beings, even those without knowledge held by an end. This end is not by chance, so there must be an intelligence officer to supply to all things an end and that intelligence is God.
Kant said that the purpose category applies to the experience and we have no experience of God
- Pascal’s wager
Pascal is an agnostic, however, bases his belief in God “just in case”
Pascal’s argument says
“If God exists and do not believe in, I lose everything
“If God exists and believe in, win it all
“If God does not exist and believe in him, do not lose anything.