Philosophy 1130F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Pyrrhonism, Probabilism, Empiricism
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3. any beliefs still be justi ed as knowledge. Empiricist foundationalism: the senses provide the ultimate criteria for justifying belief. Rationalist foundationalism: the senses give subjective or even deceptive appearances, and only reason provides a foundation for certain knowledge. Mysticism: individuals can have private access to revealed truth. Pyrrhonian: certainty is impossible, so the wise person should suspend judgement about theoretical matters. Consistent approach to knowledge; skepticism about resolving the doubt; Probabilism: human inquiry cant arrive at the absolute truth, but can at best reach probable conclusions. Contrary to the empiricist, our own immediate sensations are no guide to objective circumstances. And these premises must be deduced from other premises. And those most be deduced from still other premises. In order to avoid an in nite regress, we can simply choose a principle as an axion, and so refuse to justify it. But since the axiom cannot be deductively justi ed, it is arbitrary.