⊿ Point. {R} Glossary. ◢ Keyword: E. ◥ University. {q} PhD. {tr} Training. ⚫ UK. ↂ EndNote. ☝️ Weerakkody. ☝️ [BS] Heigham. Epistemology. Philosophical study of knowledge The school of skepticism questions the human ability to attain knowledge while fallibilism says that knowledge is never certain. Empiricists hold that all knowledge comes from sense experience, whereas rationalists believe that some knowledge does not depend on it. Coherentists argue that a belief is justified if it coheres with other beliefs. Foundationalists, by contrast, maintain that the justification of basic beliefs does not depend on other beliefs. Internalism and externalism debate whether justification is determined solely by mental states or also by external circumstances.
Separate branches of epistemology focus on knowledge in specific fields, like scientific, mathematical, moral, and religious knowledge. Early reflections on the nature, sources, and scope of knowledge are found in ancient Greek, Indian, and Chinese philosophy. Epistemology explores how people should acquire beliefs. . Major schools of thought [edit] Skepticism and fallibilism. Münchhausen trilemma. Thought experiment used to demonstrate the impossibility of proving any truth The circular argument, in which the proof of some proposition presupposes the truth of that very propositionThe regressive argument, in which each proof requires a further proof, ad infinitumThe dogmatic argument, which rests on accepted precepts which are merely asserted rather than defended The trilemma, then, is having to choose one of three equally unsatisfying options.
The name Münchhausen-Trilemma was coined by the German philosopher Hans Albert in 1968 in reference to a trilemma of "dogmatism versus infinite regress versus psychologism" used by Karl Popper.[1] It is a reference to the problem of "bootstrapping", based on the story of Baron Munchausen (in German, "Münchhausen") pulling himself and the horse on which he was sitting out of a mire by his own hair. Jakob Friedrich Fries formulated a similar trilemma in which statements can be accepted either:[4] Albert's formulation [edit]
Münchhausen trilemma. Baron Münchhausen pulls himself out of a mire by his own hair (illustration by Oskar Herrfurth) The Münchhausen trilemma (after Baron Münchhausen, who allegedly pulled himself and the horse on which he was sitting out of a swamp by his own hair), also called Agrippa's trilemma (after Agrippa the Skeptic), is a philosophical term coined to stress the purported impossibility to prove any truth even in the fields of logic and mathematics.
It is the name of an argument in the theory of knowledge going back to the German philosopher Hans Albert, and more traditionally, in the name of Agrippa. [citation needed] Trilemma[edit] If we ask of any knowledge: "How do I know that it's true? " The first two methods of reasoning are fundamentally weak, and because the Greek skeptics advocated deep questioning of all accepted values they refused to accept proofs of the third sort. Agrippa and the Greek skeptics[edit] Fries's trilemma[edit] Albert's formulation[edit] See also[edit] References[edit]