Epistemology - Scepticism (copy)

scepticism is (3)

what thought experiment leads to scepticism

why can we not know we are not a brain in a vat

even if we aren’t a brain in a vat, what’s the issue with our beliefs about the world (leading to scepticism)

scepticism about a specific claim our area of knowledge

scepticism about all knowledge claims especially the world outside the mind

Descartes’ waves of doubt

Descartes’ responses to evil demon

Descartes response to dreaming

Descartes response to illusions

we have good reason to believe the real world exists, so we shouldn’t be sceptical of it (trust our sensation and reflection, best hypothesis) but we can apply local scepticism to things)

no reason to believe sceptical arguments (brute fact) if 100 people agree there is a table there is probably a table, physical objects cause our sense-data and correspond to them in a significant way

in experiencing ideas, we are experiencing reality, we cannot be mistaken about our ideas as its a direct idea, can’t be a supercomputer as that’s a physical object, uses God instead

if my beliefs are caused by a reliable process, and are true, then I have knowledge. Supposing I am not a brain in a vat then perception is a reliable process, I don’t need further justification