PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy: Knowledge and Skepticism 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary distinction between 'knowing that' (propositional knowledge) and 'knowing how' (procedural knowledge)?
- Propositional knowledge is innate; procedural is learned
- Propositional knowledge involves facts; procedural knowledge involves abilities (Correct answer)
- Propositional knowledge is certain; procedural knowledge is probabilistic
- Propositional knowledge is public; procedural knowledge is private
Correct answer: Propositional knowledge involves facts; procedural knowledge involves abilities
Gilbert Ryle's distinction separates knowing facts ('knowing that Paris is in France') from knowing how to perform tasks ('knowing how to ride a bike').
Question 2: The 'regress problem' for foundationalism arises because:
- Foundations cannot be empirically tested
- Every justified belief seems to require further justification (Correct answer)
- Foundational beliefs are always circular
- Foundations are culturally relative
Correct answer: Every justified belief seems to require further justification
If every belief requires justification from another belief, the chain must terminate somewhere, posing the problem of what justifies the foundational beliefs themselves.
Question 3: Alvin Plantinga's concept of 'proper function' in epistemology means that a belief has warrant when:
- It is produced by faculties functioning as they were designed to function (Correct answer)
- It coheres with the majority of one's other beliefs
- It survives reflective equilibrium
- It is verifiable through sensory experience
Correct answer: It is produced by faculties functioning as they were designed to function
Plantinga argues a belief has warrant (the quality that converts true belief into knowledge) when produced by cognitive faculties functioning properly according to their design plan.
Question 4: What is 'epistemic akrasia'?
- Knowing something you cannot articulate
- Believing something against your own better epistemic judgment (Correct answer)
- Refusing to update beliefs in light of new evidence
- Holding contradictory beliefs simultaneously without noticing
Correct answer: Believing something against your own better epistemic judgment
Epistemic akrasia is believing P while simultaneously judging that you should not believe P, paralleling practical akrasia (acting against one's own better judgment).
Question 5: The 'underdetermination thesis' in philosophy of science implies skeptical consequences because:
- No scientific theory is ever falsifiable
- Multiple incompatible theories can always fit the same evidence equally well (Correct answer)
- Scientists cannot observe theoretical entities directly
- Scientific knowledge requires consensus rather than evidence
Correct answer: Multiple incompatible theories can always fit the same evidence equally well
Underdetermination holds that evidence alone can never uniquely determine theory choice, implying we cannot have justified belief in one theory over its empirically equivalent rivals.
Question 6: A 'tracking theory' of knowledge (Nozick) says knowledge requires that if P were false, you would not believe P. This condition is called:
- The sensitivity condition (Correct answer)
- The reliability condition
- The safety condition
- The coherence condition
Correct answer: The sensitivity condition
Nozick's sensitivity condition requires that in the nearest possible world where P is false, S would not believe P — the belief 'tracks' the truth.
Question 7: Which of the following best characterizes 'fallibilism' in epistemology?
- No belief can ever be justified
- Knowledge requires absolute certainty
- Knowledge is compatible with the possibility of error (Correct answer)
- Beliefs are only knowledge if they are infallible
Correct answer: Knowledge is compatible with the possibility of error
Fallibilism holds that one can know something even though one's evidence does not logically guarantee the truth of the belief.
PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy: Knowledge and Skepticism 3
What is the primary distinction between 'knowing that' (propositional knowledge) and 'knowing how' (procedural knowledge)?