Epistemology

Today Bryan and I studied philosophy and its sub-fields: reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Reality (The state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. A still more broad definition includes everything that has existed, exists, or will exist.) Existence (The nature of being, becoming, existence, or reality, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations. It deals with questions concerning what entities exist or can be said to exist, and how such entities can be grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided according to similarities and differences.) Knowledge (The nature and scope of knowledge and is also referred to as "theory of knowledge". It questions what knowledge is and how it can be acquired, and the extent to which any given subject or entity can be known, focusing on analyzing the nature of knowledge and how it relates to connected notions such as truth, belief, and justification.) Values ( Mainly two kinds of values: ethics and aesthetics. Ethics investigates the concepts of "right" and "good" in individual and social conduct. Aesthetics studies the concepts of "beauty" and "harmony.") Reason (Logic) Mind (Mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness, and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind-body problem, i.e. the relationship of the mind to the body, is commonly seen as one key issue in philosophy of mind, although there are other issues concerning the nature of the mind that do not involve its relation to the physical body, such as how consciousness is possible and the nature of particular mental states.) Language (Logic) After examining these basic premises as falling into the areas of philosophy, we examined epistemology in greater detail. Epistemology is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge, such as the relationships between truth, belief, and theories of justification. Skepticism is the position which questions the possibility of completely justifying any truth. The regress argument, a fundamental problem in epistemology, occurs when, in order to completely prove any statement, its justification itself needs to be supported by another justification. This chain can do three possible options;one option is infinitism, where this chain of justification can go on forever;another option is foundationalism, where the chain of justifications eventually relies on basic beliefs or axioms that are left unproven; the last option, such as in coherentism, is making the chain circular so that a statement is included in its own chain of justification. It was interesting examining the definition of skepticism. I will definitely take note if anyone ever calls me a skeptic. Poor Bryan always has to listen to his mother dwell on things that are in the of her own interests! 8/30/2013