Is there a convincing response to philosophical scepticism? [15 marks]

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  • Created by: momonowa
  • Created on: 10-12-21 13:58

Is there a convincing response to philosophical scepticism? [15 marks]

Advantages

  • Reliabilism: This was a response to the tripartite view. It proposes emitting 'justification' from JTB and replacing it with a 'reliable cognitive process', like our senses. This process means that events from the past can be used to come to knowledge, 'The sun has risen every day for 10 years, therefore it should rise tomorrow', and that beings like animals can have knowledge as they can come to conclusions from experience.
  • Russell: The existence of an external world is the best and simplest logical explanation for things like the sense data that we receive. It is simpler than arguing that an evil demon is controlling our perceptions and less convoluted than sitting in large-scale philosophical doubt and coming up with complex possibilities.
  • Berkeley: From the position of idealism, as he doesn't believe the external world exists, he has no need to prove it.

Disadvantages

  • Reliabilism relies on experience for synthetic knowledge instead of knowledge arriving a priori. While reliabilism can give us everyday knowledge, like 'The berries I had yesterday were not poisonous and so today should also not be poisonous', it falls short in response to global philosophical skepticism
  • Berkeley's and Russell's views can both be argued to be overly simplistic and seem to brush off skepticism instead of addressing it more in-depth
  • Descartes' own response to skepticism and proof of the external world relies on abduction and proving God exists, so his intellectual virtue in questioning rationalism can be questioned

Evaluation

In conclusion, there is not a convincing response to philosophical skepticism as reliabilism alongside Berkeley, Russell, and Descartes' responses are all not strong enough

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