PHI 215 EXAM 3 Question and
answers rated A+ 2025
Epistemology - correct answer ✔--study of knowledge
--how and to what extent we know things
Propositional knowledge - correct answer ✔knowing that something is the
case
Proposition - correct answer ✔--statement that is either true or false
--assertion something is or is not a fact
What are 3 necessary conditions that must be fulfilled to KNOW a
proposition? - correct answer ✔1. You must BELIEVE it.
2. It must be TRUE.
3. You must be justified in believing it is true.
A belief does not count as knowledge unless it is_____ - correct answer
✔true
True belief is not knowledge, unless you genuinely ______________ - correct
answer ✔know it (a lucky guess is not equal to knowledge).
Skepticism - correct answer ✔A philosophy which suggests that nothing can
ever be known for certain.
3 questions skepticism might ask - correct answer ✔1. If we have no way of
really "knowing", how can we know what we believe is really true?
,2. Recognizing the fallibility of how we acquire knowledge (via memory,
introspection, reasoning), how can we be certain reliability is not suspect?
3. How do we know our "sources" are not always leading us to error?
Cognitive relativism - correct answer ✔the doctrine that the truth about
something depends on what persons or cultures believe
Subjective Relativism - correct answer ✔The idea that truth depends on what
someone believes.
cultural relativism - correct answer ✔the practice of judging a culture by its
own standards
Most serious flaw of relativism is - correct answer ✔If everything is relative,
then no unrestricted generalizations are true. Even that statement is an
unrestricted generalization, rendering any "true" form of relativism false by
definition.
Why do most philosophers reject relativism? - correct answer ✔It's too easy
to claim knowledge, as all is requires is belief.
What is a priori knowledge? - correct answer ✔--knowledge justified
independently of, or prior to, experience
--knowledge acquired through reason, requiring no sense experience
What is a posteriori knowledge? - correct answer ✔--100% dependent upon
sense experience
Rationalists believe - correct answer ✔through unaided reason we can come
to know what the world is like
, Empiricists believe - correct answer ✔our knowledge or empirical world
comes solely from experience; we may come to know logic and math through
reason, but only our senses give us empirical reality
Name 4 significant rationalists - correct answer ✔Plato, Descartes, Spinoza,
Liebniz
Name 3 significant empiricists - correct answer ✔Locke, Berkeley, Hume
John Locke's take on empiricism - correct answer ✔--believed objects "are"
regardless if we perceive them or not
--rejected skepticism, "we are only directly aware of sense data"
George Berkeley's take on empiricism - correct answer ✔--accepts notion of
being only aware of sense data
--rejects Locke's belief in existence of material objects
--logically impossible for physical objects to exist outside our perception, b/c
we cannot "conceive of them existing unconceived"
--all that exists are minds and ideas (subjective idealism)
David Hume's take on empiricism - correct answer ✔--uncompromising
empiricism
--all knowledge aside from purely logical thoughts arise from empiricism
--skeptical about causation, self, religious doctrines, inductive reasoning
Kant's take on empiricism - correct answer ✔--believed knowledge begins
with raw data of sense experience, but our minds impose order upon it
--our minds impress concepts of cause/effect, space/time onto experiences
answers rated A+ 2025
Epistemology - correct answer ✔--study of knowledge
--how and to what extent we know things
Propositional knowledge - correct answer ✔knowing that something is the
case
Proposition - correct answer ✔--statement that is either true or false
--assertion something is or is not a fact
What are 3 necessary conditions that must be fulfilled to KNOW a
proposition? - correct answer ✔1. You must BELIEVE it.
2. It must be TRUE.
3. You must be justified in believing it is true.
A belief does not count as knowledge unless it is_____ - correct answer
✔true
True belief is not knowledge, unless you genuinely ______________ - correct
answer ✔know it (a lucky guess is not equal to knowledge).
Skepticism - correct answer ✔A philosophy which suggests that nothing can
ever be known for certain.
3 questions skepticism might ask - correct answer ✔1. If we have no way of
really "knowing", how can we know what we believe is really true?
,2. Recognizing the fallibility of how we acquire knowledge (via memory,
introspection, reasoning), how can we be certain reliability is not suspect?
3. How do we know our "sources" are not always leading us to error?
Cognitive relativism - correct answer ✔the doctrine that the truth about
something depends on what persons or cultures believe
Subjective Relativism - correct answer ✔The idea that truth depends on what
someone believes.
cultural relativism - correct answer ✔the practice of judging a culture by its
own standards
Most serious flaw of relativism is - correct answer ✔If everything is relative,
then no unrestricted generalizations are true. Even that statement is an
unrestricted generalization, rendering any "true" form of relativism false by
definition.
Why do most philosophers reject relativism? - correct answer ✔It's too easy
to claim knowledge, as all is requires is belief.
What is a priori knowledge? - correct answer ✔--knowledge justified
independently of, or prior to, experience
--knowledge acquired through reason, requiring no sense experience
What is a posteriori knowledge? - correct answer ✔--100% dependent upon
sense experience
Rationalists believe - correct answer ✔through unaided reason we can come
to know what the world is like
, Empiricists believe - correct answer ✔our knowledge or empirical world
comes solely from experience; we may come to know logic and math through
reason, but only our senses give us empirical reality
Name 4 significant rationalists - correct answer ✔Plato, Descartes, Spinoza,
Liebniz
Name 3 significant empiricists - correct answer ✔Locke, Berkeley, Hume
John Locke's take on empiricism - correct answer ✔--believed objects "are"
regardless if we perceive them or not
--rejected skepticism, "we are only directly aware of sense data"
George Berkeley's take on empiricism - correct answer ✔--accepts notion of
being only aware of sense data
--rejects Locke's belief in existence of material objects
--logically impossible for physical objects to exist outside our perception, b/c
we cannot "conceive of them existing unconceived"
--all that exists are minds and ideas (subjective idealism)
David Hume's take on empiricism - correct answer ✔--uncompromising
empiricism
--all knowledge aside from purely logical thoughts arise from empiricism
--skeptical about causation, self, religious doctrines, inductive reasoning
Kant's take on empiricism - correct answer ✔--believed knowledge begins
with raw data of sense experience, but our minds impose order upon it
--our minds impress concepts of cause/effect, space/time onto experiences
