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    Epistemology For Dummies

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    Darly Sommerset
    1. The document discusses epistemology, which is the study of how we know what we know. It aims to accomplish goals like knowing how we know things and distinguishing what is knowable from what isn't. 2. However, the writings on epistemology present various theories for how these goals can be achieved but admit that the theories themselves are not known to be true. They provide counterarguments and counter-counterarguments without helping the reader know anything conclusively. 3. The document argues that we can accomplish the goals of epistemology by figuring out what is necessarily known through reason alone and refusing to engage with those who deny epistemic necessity or are too obstinate to admit it.

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    Epistemology For Dummies

    Uploaded by

    Darly Sommerset
    209 views1 page
    1. The document discusses epistemology, which is the study of how we know what we know. It aims to accomplish goals like knowing how we know things and distinguishing what is knowable from what isn't. 2. However, the writings on epistemology present various theories for how these goals can be achieved but admit that the theories themselves are not known to be true. They provide counterarguments and counter-counterarguments without helping the reader know anything conclusively. 3. The document argues that we can accomplish the goals of epistemology by figuring out what is necessarily known through reason alone and refusing to engage with those who deny epistemic necessity or are too obstinate to admit it.

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    Epistemology for Dummies

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    1. The document discusses epistemology, which is the study of how we know what we know. It aims to accomplish goals like knowing how we know things and distinguishing what is knowable from what isn't. 2. However, the writings on epistemology present various theories for how these goals can be achieved but admit that the theories themselves are not known to be true. They provide counterarguments and counter-counterarguments without helping the reader know anything conclusively. 3. The document argues that we can accomplish the goals of epistemology by figuring out what is necessarily known through reason alone and refusing to engage with those who deny epistemic necessity or are too obstinate to admit it.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    209 views1 page

    Epistemology For Dummies

    Uploaded by

    Darly Sommerset
    1. The document discusses epistemology, which is the study of how we know what we know. It aims to accomplish goals like knowing how we know things and distinguishing what is knowable from what isn't. 2. However, the writings on epistemology present various theories for how these goals can be achieved but admit that the theories themselves are not known to be true. They provide counterarguments and counter-counterarguments without helping the reader know anything conclusively. 3. The document argues that we can accomplish the goals of epistemology by figuring out what is necessarily known through reason alone and refusing to engage with those who deny epistemic necessity or are too obstinate to admit it.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 1

    Epistemology for Dummies http://www.sanityquestpublishing.com/essays/epi4dum.

    html

    EPISTEMOLOGY for DUMMIES

    Epistemology doesnʹt help us know much more than we would


    have known if we had never heard of it. But it does force us to
    Essays admit that we donʹt know some of the things we thought we
    knew. We study epistemology to accomplish at least five goals:
    Open as PDF 1. to know how we know stuff
    2. to know if other people really know what they claim to
    Open know
    Concept Clarifier 3. to distinguish what is knowable from what isnʹt
    in 4. to formulate an epistemological foundation that wonʹt
    separate window collapse when we try to build on it
    5. to respond to the skeptics who keep asking, ʺHow do you
    know that?ʺ and to incorrigible agnostics who claim to
    know li�le if anything
    6. and possibly a few other related goals not specifically stated
    above

    Unfortunately the people who write on epistemology donʹt tell


    us how to accomplish those goals. They give us a bunch of
    theories on how some of those goals might be accomplished. But
    by admi�ing that those theories are theories, the writers admit
    that they donʹt know if those theories are true. In fact, they
    present us with counter arguments to those theories, and
    counter- counter arguments for as long as we are willing to
    continue reading. Thus, they donʹt help us know anything,
    except that we just wasted some time. They do, however, help
    the epistemological in-crowd to sound knowledgeable among
    themselves, and talk over the heads of anyone who doesnʹt -
    which was very likely the whole idea.

    Is there a way to accomplish our original goals without joining


    in the fray and becoming part of the problem? Yes. Not ʺyes, in
    my opinionʺ, or ʺhereʹs the yes theory,ʺ but flat unequivocal
    yes. We can simply figure out what is epistemically necessary,
    admit that we know what is epistemically necessary, and refuse
    to care about those people who are either too stupid to see
    epistemic necessity, or too obnoxious to admit they see it.

    1 of 1 23/07/12, 15:34

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