PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy: Knowledge and Skepticism 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does 'epistemic humility' require of a knower?
- Treating all beliefs as equally uncertain
- Recognizing the limits and fallibility of one's own knowledge (Correct answer)
- Refusing to assert any knowledge claim
- Accepting testimony over personal experience
Correct answer: Recognizing the limits and fallibility of one's own knowledge
Epistemic humility involves acknowledging that one's knowledge may be limited, biased, or mistaken, without collapsing into full skepticism.
Question 2: The 'new evil demon problem' posed against reliabilism argues that:
- Demons can deceive us about logical truths
- Cognitively identical subjects under deception can be equally justified despite unreliable faculties (Correct answer)
- Reliabilism is self-refuting
- Reliability requires supernatural grounding
Correct answer: Cognitively identical subjects under deception can be equally justified despite unreliable faculties
The problem notes that a demon-deceived twin of a normal person seems equally justified, yet reliabilism would deny their beliefs are justified because their faculties are unreliable.
Question 3: Which philosopher is most closely associated with the view that knowledge is 'true belief plus the right causal connection'?
- Edmund Gettier
- Alvin Goldman (Correct answer)
- Roderick Chisholm
- Laurence BonJour
Correct answer: Alvin Goldman
Alvin Goldman's causal theory of knowledge (1967) requires that the fact that makes the belief true causally produces the belief itself.
Question 4: In social epistemology, 'epistemic injustice' (Miranda Fricker) refers to:
- Unequal access to educational resources
- Wronging someone specifically in their capacity as a knower (Correct answer)
- The unjust distribution of scientific research funding
- Suppressing minority viewpoints in academic discourse
Correct answer: Wronging someone specifically in their capacity as a knower
Fricker identifies two forms: testimonial injustice (deflated credibility due to prejudice) and hermeneutical injustice (gaps in collective interpretive resources that harm marginalized groups).
Question 5: What is the 'problem of the criterion' as discussed by Roderick Chisholm?
- How to derive ought from is in epistemology
- Whether to start with a method or instances of knowledge when building epistemology (Correct answer)
- How to justify the use of logic in philosophy
- Whether skepticism is self-defeating
Correct answer: Whether to start with a method or instances of knowledge when building epistemology
Chisholm noted that to know what we know, we need a criterion, but to adopt a criterion, we need to know which instances are genuine — creating a circular dilemma.
Question 6: What feature of 'safety' distinguishes it from 'sensitivity' as a condition on knowledge?
- Safety is a necessary condition; sensitivity is sufficient
- Safety concerns nearby possible worlds where you believe truly; sensitivity concerns worlds where P is false (Correct answer)
- Safety applies only to a priori knowledge; sensitivity applies to empirical knowledge
- Safety requires reliability; sensitivity does not
Correct answer: Safety concerns nearby possible worlds where you believe truly; sensitivity concerns worlds where P is false
Safety (Sosa, Williamson) requires that in nearby worlds you would not believe falsely, while sensitivity (Nozick) asks whether you'd still believe if P were false.
Question 7: The term 'epistemic peer' refers to someone who:
- Has the same level of education as you
- Has the same evidence and epistemic abilities relevant to a dispute (Correct answer)
- Agrees with your conclusions after deliberation
- Has been trained in epistemology
Correct answer: Has the same evidence and epistemic abilities relevant to a dispute
An epistemic peer is a person who is equally well-positioned with respect to both evidence and reasoning ability for the question at hand.
PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy: Knowledge and Skepticism 4
What does 'epistemic humility' require of a knower?