Can you be certain that you are not a brain in a vat? (15) - Advantages and disadvantages table in A Level and IB Philosophy

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Created by: Elena.S
Created on: 31-03-17 21:35

Can you be certain that you are not a brain in a vat? (15)

Advantages

P: indirect realism; E: Russell - external world as best hypothesis/Ockham's razor (Descartes' demon); E - agreement on space-time
P: direct realism; E: we seem to experience the same things (relational properties); E: shapes, colours
P: idealism; E: general acceptance of space-time, Ockham's razor

Disadvantages

P: idealism; E: master argument, everything is mind-dependent so makes sense if we weren't in real world
P: indirect realism; E: veil of perception, never able to see if what one perceives is actually true (solipsism about nature/existence of external world)
P: direct realism; E: perceptual variation, how can we know what is correct, more sense for variation to occur in vat

Evaluation

Yes bc we can agree on things and it's the simplest explanation

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