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knowledge claim
- an assertion that something is the case
- a true or false statement
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knowledge counterclaim
a problem or limitation with a knowledge claim, or an opposing view within the same perspective
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an opposing view
the opposite of your claim
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problem or limitation
things that weaken the argument, make it problematic
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same perspective
within biology - counter claim must be withing biology
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first order question
can be answered within the subject
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second order question
- the question is about the subject
- general, contested
- should not be in the language of the real-life situation
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knowledge question
- question about knowledge
- a second order question
- a contested question (no one true answer)
- a general question (not specific)
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starts to knowledge questions
- to what extent
- at what point
- what is the role of
- how do we know
- in what ways
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way of knowing
- a way in which we acquire knowledge
- memory
- intuition
- language
- reason
- faith
- sense perception
- imagination
- emotions
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area of knowledge
- area in which knowledge can be found
- human sciences
- natural sciences
- mathematics
- ethics
- arts
- history
- religious belief systems
- indigenous belief systems
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linking concepts
- link different aspects
- within ways of knowing and areas of knowledge
- between ways of knowing and areas of knowledge
- link ways of knowing and areas of knowledge
- culture
- values
- technology
- certainty
- truth
- evidence
- explanation
- belief
- interpretation
- experience
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problem of knowledge
- something that poses doubt in the process of knowledge acquisition
- limitation
- uncertainty
- bias
- verification
- justification
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personal knowledge
- knowledge that a particular individual has of the world
- experiential or second-hand
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experiential knowledge
- knowledge gained through experience
- knowledge by acquaitance or practical knowledge
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knowledge by acquaitance
- first hand knowledge based on perceptual experience (knowledge of)
- colours, smells, noises, people, places, tastes
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practical knowledge
- skill based knowledge (knowledge how)
- running, walking
- needs practice
- hard to put into words
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second-hand knowledge
- acquired through sources such as school, culture, internet, media
- academic knowledge
- informal knowledge
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academic knowledge
knowledge of academic subjects
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informal knowledge
stock of cultural and local knowledge, random facts, trivia
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obstacles of personal knowledge
- influence it
- ignorance
- apathy
- fantasy
- bias
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shared knowledge
a stock of academic, practical, and informal knowledge which can be communicated verbally or non-verbally to other people
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dangers of shared knowledge
- authority worship
- groupthink
- power distortions
- fragmentation
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authority worship
uncritically accepting something as true simply because an authority says so
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groupthink
a form of peer pressure which leads everyone in the group to think in the same way
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power distortions
governments and corporations have vested interest in influencing our beliefs and values
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fragmentation
- division within a particular area of shared knowledge
- there can never be a unifying voice
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sources of shared knowledge
- the internet
- cultural tradition
- school
- expert opinions
- the news/edia
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relationship between personal and shared knowledge
- personal knowledge contributes to shared knowledge
- shared knowledge influences personal knowledge
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knowledge
- justified true belief (plato)
- we can only know the things that exist and for us the only things that exist are the ones we know
- Gettier cases
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anthropomorphism
ascribing human traits to something that is not human (God)
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views on religion
- theism
- pantheism
- atheism
- agnosticism
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theism
the universe is governed by an eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving creator God
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pantheism
- God is everything and everything is part of God
- reality is spiritual in nature and the everyday world is an illusion
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atheism
denial of the existence of a creator God and believeing that the universe is material in nature and has no spiritual dimension
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agnosticism
a position which neither asserts nor denies the existence of God or some higher reality but keeps an open, skeptical mind
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the nature of God
- described with human language and attributes
- in trying to describe God with human language there is a danger we either reduce him to something less than god or run into insoluble paradoxes
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the god of the philosophers
- describing god in abstract language
- all-powerful (omnipotent)
- all-knowing (omniscient)
- all-loving (omni amorous)
- paradoxes
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paradox of omnipotence
could God create a being that God could not subsequently control?
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paradox of suffering
- God is all-loving and does not want us to suffer
- God is all-poweful and can prevent us from suffering
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paradox of free-will
- if god is all knowing he also knows the future
- this would make human free-will an illusion
- if everything is predetermined, why do we sin
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arguments for and against the existence of god
- the argument from religious experience
- the teleological argument
- the cosmological argument
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the argument from religious experience
- people who claim to have witnessed the existence of god
- miracle
- religious experiences are difficult if not impossible to verify
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miracle
an extraordinary event which is brought about by god's intervention in the natural order of things
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counter-argument to the argument from religious experience
David Hume - denied existence of miracles, it is never rational to believe in them because the weight of evidence is always against them
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the teleological argument
- the order and harmony of the universe is evidence for the existence of an intelligent creator
- William Paley - analogy between a watch and a watchmaker and God and the world
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coutner-argument to the teleological argument
- David Hume
- - analogy is poor becuase there is little resemblance between the world and a machine
- - the most the argument can prove is the existence of an architect God
- -the world is very faulty and imperfect compared to a superior standard
- theory of evolution explains complexity and harmony of nature without having to appeal to a god
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the cosmological argument
- sees the very existence of the universe as strong evidence for the existence of a creator god
- the fact that it exists at all
- no answer to what caused the big bang - nothing can come from nothing - universe was created by god
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counter-argument to the cosmological argument
- do we really need a creator god to explain the existence of the universe
- the universe has always existed - big bang = result of big crunch - the universe has been expanding and contracting forever in a series of cycles
- the big bang was the uncaused first cause
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the problem of suffering
why is there so much suffering in the world
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nature of faith
- is it possible to give a neutral definition
- does it concern only religion or is it tolerant of other areas of knowledge
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three key elements of faith
- a cognitive element
- an emotional element
- an ethical element
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a cognitive element
- faith is a form of belief
- many beliefs do not involve faith
- faith describes deeply held conventions
- closely connected with a worldview
- the relation between fatih and evidence is controversial - quest for evidence weakens faith
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worldview
an overarching theory about the nature of the universe and the place of human beings in it
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an emotional element
- faith implies an emotional commitment
- having faith shapes the pattern of your behaviour more than believing in something
- faith goes beyond evidence - includes risk
- faith lacks objective certainty
- subjective certainty: faith = unwavering commitment or faith includes doubt
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an ethical element
- faith carries the idea that things will work out for the best
- confident hope
- if you have faith something will happen you both hope and believe
- also to trust
- faith in someone is faith that something is the case
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the evidentialist challenge
- w.k. clifford argued strength of a belief should be proportionate to the strength of the evidence for it
- it is irrational to believe something with insufficient evidence - faith is belief based on insufficient evidence - faith is irrational
- complications: what is evidence? how much evidence is sufficient? who has the burden of proof? why accept evidentialism?
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evidentialism
idea that we should believe in something only to the extent that there is evidence for it
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religious faith
faith in the truth of some kind of divine revelation which is directly based on personal experience and indirectly based on the authority of a religious text
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defending religious faith against evidentialism
- compatibilism
- fideism
- separate domains
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compatibilism
- faith and reason are both god-given faculties and are compatible with one another
- rejects premise 2 of evidentialist argument
- the divine sense theory
- the rational faith theory
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the divine sense theory
- faith = independent faculty which gives us knowledge in the same way as sense perception
- we sense god's presence directly and immediately like the external world
- 'divine sense' like sense perception - placing velief in God on it is as rational as placing belief on the world
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criticism of divine sense theory
- theory is based on a false analogy - is a fallacy in itself - if you reject sense perception you might not survive but you can function normally without a divine sense
- theory cannot explain distribution of belief, why it is stronger in certain countries than others
- postulating a divine sense seems arbitrary - can lead to invention of other new senses (alien sense)
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the rational faith theory
- what is grasped by faith can be supported by evidence and arguments based on ordinary experience
- faith and reason = two different ways of arriving to the truth
- any apparent conflict is due to an improper appeal of faith or unsound reasoning
- faith and reason support each other and keep one another in check
- faith without reason leads to superstition, reason without faith leads to relativism
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criticism of the rational faith theory
- why is faith required at all
- does reason support faith
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fideism
- faith is irrational
- it's opposed to and superior to reason - we must rely on faith not reason in seeking religious truth
- criticism: fideism is too permissive - anyone can claim to know anything, faith in what - no guidence of the direction
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separate domains
- faith is arrational
- faith and reason are appropriate to a different domain of enquiry and both play a role in our attempt to understand reality
- reason - facts and theories about natural world
- faith - questions of ultimate meaning and moral values which are beyond the reach of empirical enquiry
- conflict only when one domain trespasses on the territory of the other - scientism and superstition
- criticisms: most religions make claims about the natural world, meaning and values need not be based on faith
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