Brain in a Vat (Part 1)
Philosopher Hilary Putnam explains his "brain in a vat" theory. This theory calls into question basic human assumptions about knowledge and reality on the grounds that we have no way of knowing if what we think we see and experience and believe to b...
Does All Knowledge Come from Experience?: John Locke's Empiricism and Its Troublesome Gap
John Locke and later empiricists dispute the rationalists' claim that pure reason could grasp truths about the world. They argue that all knowledge of the world must come through the senses and experience. Locke compares the mind at birth to a tabul...
In the Know
Learn why it is important to provide the prospective buyer with specific knowledge needed to make the best possible buying decision.
Mind and the World (Part One), The
Philosopher Stephen Toulmin talks about Immanuel Kant's views regarding the relationship between the mind and the world. Professor Toulmin explains that it was Kant who originated the idea that our understanding of the world is "...at least as much ...
Knowledge
Philosopher Charles Taylor talks about different understandings of knowledge, beginning with Descartes, who believed that knowledge is inner representation of outer reality.
Is Reason the Source of Knowledge?: Necessary Truths
Descartes argues that the senses can perceive only the changing surfaces of things, but the mind can go deeper to find necessary truths. Empiricist who argue that all knowledge must come from the senses disagree.
Is Reason the Source of Knowledge?: Reason, the Source of Knowledge
Seventeenth century rationalists like Descartes and Leibniz believe that knowledge comes from reason alone. It is not necessary to see examples in the physical world;truth can be grasped entirely in the mind. This is a period in which science is mak...
Brain in a Vat (Part 2)
Philosopher Hilary Putnam discusses problems with using any form of the brain in a vat argument for skeptical purposes. The biggest problem he cites is that the brain in a vat argument itself requires that many of our assumptions concerning the laws...
Does the Mind Shape the World?: Does the Mind Shape the World?
Immanuel Kant, born in 1724 sought to resolve a controversy that had been brewing for over a century. Rationalists argued that knowledge is based on reasoning inside our minds. Empirists disagreed saying that all knowledge must come from the senses....
Pragmatism, Language and Reality
Philosopher Richard Rorty explores the link between language and reality, suggesting that no one language is any closer to reality than any other. Whether it's the language of poetry, the language of physics, the language of theology or any other la...