“If I claim full justice for my art, it is because it
is an important thing – a thing beyond myself. Crime
is Common. Logic is rare. Therefore, it is upon the logic rather than upon the
crime that you should dwell.” (Sherlock
Holmes in “The Copper Beeches” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
1. Metaphysics
is the philosophical investigation of the nature, constitution, and structure
of reality. (Careful! This term is used differently by
bookstores and pseudo-scientists outside of philosophy.) It is broader in scope
than science, e.g. physics and cosmology (the science of the structure and origin
of the universe as a whole), since one of its traditional concerns is
non-physical entities, e.g., God and perhaps mind (if these indeed turn out to
exist independent of space and time). It is more fundamental than science, as
it investigates questions science does not address but the answers to which it
presupposes. Metaphysical questions include: What exists? Are we free? Does
every event have a cause? What is a person? Is there a God? Does life have
meaning or purpose?
Examples of Metaphysical Propositions:
4. God does exist (Descartes). Note the subtle difference between this and #1 above.
5. There exists more than one type of substance. (Descartes and Locke)
6. There is one and only one substance. We are modes
of that substance (Spinoza)
2. Axiology is the study of values. This might include Ethics (Is there a real difference between moral right and wrong?), Social and Political philosophy (Do we have social and political obligations?), and Aesthetics (What is Art? What is Beauty?).
3. Epistemology
is the study of the nature of knowledge and justification; specifically, the
study of the defining features, the substantive conditions, and the limits of
knowledge and justification. 1) Justified 2) true 3) belief is often considered
“knowledge” so epistemology examines these topics carefully. Such rationalists
as Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz contend that all genuine knowledge of the
world is a priori (in part because of perceptual mistakes), whereas such
empiricists as Newton, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Mill argue that all such
knowledge must be a posteriori since we must start with certain
empirical (experiential or experience-based) facts or hypotheses before we can
rationalize or analyze in a useful sense. Questions asked by epistemologists
include: How do we obtain knowledge about the world? What does it mean to know
something? How is knowledge different from belief or opinion?
Examples of Epistemological Propositions:
1. There is a justification for claiming that God
exists (Descartes).
2. There are limits to what we can know (Hume).
3. Knowledge is justified true belief. It must have at least these three components.
Elementary Types of Knowledge:
·
A priori knowledge (known before experience)
Examples: Bachelors
are unmarried, 2 + 2 = 4, A brass buckle is made of
metal.
·
A posteriori knowledge (known after experience)
Examples: Bachelors
are unhappy, It is not worth two cents, I have a brass
buckle.
4. Logic is the study of reasoning. Here we
investigate whether an argument is justified, believable, or convincing. We
also examine the form of good and bad arguments.