Essays on Sense Experience

Essay

Immanuel Kant: Reason and Freedom Immanuel Kant argues that being purely objective or purely rational and being independently free are two peas in a pod. As Kant argued in his widely known book Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, all human beings possess what he refers to as 'the idea of freedom' (Pasternack, 2002, 12). He builds his concept of categorical imperatives-- in the absence of which responsibility and morality would cease to exist-- upon the speculated idea that freedom is an omnipresent concept. Kant claims that it is clearly not possible for people to envision themselves as 'un-free' ( ...

For Kant, differentiation between synthetic and analytic knowledge, a priori and a posteriori knowledge are essential building blocks in philosophy. The knowledge or judgment is a priori synthetic if it comprises of pure reason. It is a truth that is applicable to the objects; no matter people have or do not have experience of the object. An example is the judgment, knowledge, or proposition that God exists. A Priori knowledge is based on the reason, and it is independent of all the experiences, and it is applied with strict universality. A Posteriori knowledge is based on experience, and is ...

Russell begins his analysis of reality by asking the question whether there truly exists knowledge that is in itself so certain that no man could doubt it. This question seems rather simple at first but upon further analysis of the question especially through Russell’s eyes the depth of the question manifests. Russell argues against the concept of direct realism. He argues that everything we see and then perceive is subject to our conceptualization process which is in turn subject to our experiences and point of view. This then begs the question as to whether what we see truly ...

1. Descartes famously begins his Meditations on First Philosophy by considering so-called “radical doubt.” What is radical doubt, and what are the three phases in the argument that lead him to it? What does he believe is the idea that is fundamentally resistant even to the deepest of doubts? And why does Descartes begin his epistemology like this, anyway? Rene Descartes propounded his theory of radical doubt where he insisted on the systematic process of doubting one’s beliefs in a bid to determine or ascertain that which is indeed true. Descartes, in his radical doubt, advocated for doubting ...

The dispute between rationalism and empiricism is found within a branch of philosophy called epistemology, is all about the extent to which humans are dependent on sense experience in the quest to acquire knowledge. Rationalists think that there are ways with which our concepts and knowledge can be gained independently of sense experience. On the other hand, empiricists think that sense experience is the only source of all concepts and knowledge. But Immanuel Kant sought to give a solution and therefore solve the dispute between these two arguments. Kant argues that the method and the content found in these two ...

Introduction

“That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.” - Christopher Hitchens Such brazen remark would seem highly provocative at first instance, as it tackles a particularly sensitive component of epistemology – evidence. There are numerous debates surrounding the study of evidence, being undoubtedly controversial due to the contentious definition of knowledge. Nevertheless, it does not mean to say that the subject matter does not render any possible resolutions, albeit the debate will carry on as various schools of thought hold different stands on knowledge. This study will ...