Epistemology and the End of the World
Apart from its entertainment value, Harold Camping’s ill-advised prediction of the rapture last month attracted me as a philosopher for its epistemological interest. Epistemology is the study of knowledge, its nature, scope and limits. Camping claimed to know, with certainty and precision, that on May 21, 2011, a series of huge earthquakes would devastate the Earth and be followed by the taking up (rapture) of the saved into heaven. No sensible person could have thought that he knew this. Knowledge requires justification; that is, some rationally persuasive account of why we know what we claim to know. Camping’s confused efforts at Biblical interpretation provided no justification for his prediction. Even if, by some astonishing fluke, he had turned out to be right, he still would not have known Of particular epistemological interest was the rush of Christians who believe that the rapture will occur but specify no date for it to dissociate themselves from Camping. Quoting Jesus’s saying that “of that day and hour no one knows,” they rightly saw their view as unrefuted by Camping’s failed prediction. What they did not notice is that the reasons for rejecting Camping’s prediction also call into question their claim that the rapture will occur at some unspecified future time. What was most disturbing about Camping was his claim to be certain about his prediction, but he had no good reasons to think that this feeling was reliable. Similarly, you may feel certain that you will get the job, but this does not make it (objectively) certain that you will. For that you need reasons that justify your feeling. There are many Christians who are as subjectively certain as Camping about the rapture, except that they do not specify a date. They have a feeling of total confidence that the rapture will someday occur. But do they, unlike Camping, have good reasons behind their feeling of certainty? Does the fact that they leave the date of the rapture unspecified somehow give them the good reason for their certainty that Camping lacked? An entirely unspecified date has the advantage of making their prediction immune to refutation. The fact that the rapture hasn’t occurred will never prove that it won’t occur in the future. A sense that they will never be refuted may well increase the subjective certainty of those who believe in the rapture, but this does nothing to provide the good reasons needed for objective certainty. Camping, after the fact, himself moved toward making his prediction unrefutable, saying that May 21 had been an “invisible judgment day,” a spiritual rather than a physical rapture. He kept to his prediction of a final, physical end of the world on October 21, 2011, but no doubt this prediction will also be open to reinterpretation.
What Is Epistemology - News
Apart from its entertainment value, Harold Camping's ill-advised prediction of the rapture last month attracted me as a philosopher for its epistemological interest. Epistemology is the study of knowledge, its nature, scope and limits.
The course included sessions on metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and political and economic theory, with a heavy emphasis on laissez-faire capitalism. When Branden finished his lecture, Rand herself would often answer questions.
What in the world is "epistemology?" After flipping through my dictionary, I found it means "the study of knowledge and justified belief." Oh dear, I feel like I am in deep trouble if I do not even understand what my requirements are for the next four
The smart answer was not about epistemology, ontology, or any other ology, but the circular “That which is studied in university departments of philosophy”. And there's a similar sense, according to Prof Stephen Walt, that the framework/context of the
So the issue becomes one of epistemology rather than a scientific theory. Do you derive your understanding of nature from “Holy Scripture” or from the evidence of nature? No doubt seen by the Inquisition as a “theological” issue but really an important
Plato: Is the Good More Fundamental than Truth? « The Jacob ...
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Recently, someone asked why the Greek philosopher Plato considered the idea of the Good more fundamental than the idea of Truth. I think the reason is that the idea of the Good tells us that something is better than something else. Without the idea of the Good, we would not even feel compelled to distinguish between truth and falsehood because everything would be of equal value.
Now, this does not mean that the idea of the Good tells us what is true. It tells us rather that we should value truth—that truth is better than falsehood. Before we decide what is true, we first have to decide that the search for truth is a worthwhile endeavor.
In other words, we don’t arrive at the idea of the Good by pursuing truth; we pursue truth because we consider it good. The Good is the sun that cannot be seen directly, but by its light we see everything else. We do not know everything simply through the Good, but we see that there is a path called Truth at all and that it is worthwhile to tread upon.
To put it in modern technical terms, I don’t think that Plato thought that the Good provided us with an epistemology so much as with an axiology , that is, with value judgments rather than truth judgments. Axiology is more fundamental than epistemology; the Good is more fundamental than Truth.
what is the epistemology of ur image?
Reading what Thomas Aquinas has to say in his 'Summa Theologica' about happiness' epistemology is pretty life changing. 
The problem of knowledge
What can be known? Is epistemology independent of ontology? Is knowledge JTB (justified true belief)?
Lol! RT : RT : I asked him where he stood on epistemology and he replied. "What is Truth?" 
RT : RT : I asked him where he stood on epistemology and he replied. "What is Truth?" What Is Epistemology - Bookshelf
The Blackwell guide to epistemology
Introduction: What is Epistemology? John Greco The purpose of this volume is to provide a relatively complete guide to the current state of epistemology. ...Foundations, a manual for the beginning student of epistemology
Chapter 1 What is Epistemology? The word "epistemology" is from the Greek and means the study of knowledge. College courses that go by the name of Theories ...Epistemology and ontology, IVR-Symposium Lund 2003
This is one of many such selections and the general theme of this Beiheft is Epistemology and Ontology. Thus the papers by and large deal with what sort of ...A Companion to Epistemology
First, what is the nature of the epistemic “ought”? This question includes such issues as the sense in which we can have epistemic duties; whether, ...Knowledge puzzles, an introduction to epistemology
1 Introducing Epistemology If you were to think of buying a car, and you had not ... 1 What Is Epistemology? Epistemology is the theory of knowledge; ...Detailed Information Directory
Epistemology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
How is knowledge acquired? How do we know what we know? Much of the debate in this field ... In physics, the concept of epistemology is vital in the modern ...
Epistemology (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
As the study of knowledge, epistemology is concerned with the following questions: What are the necessary and sufficient conditions of knowledge? ...
What is Epistemology? Philosophy of Truth, Knowledge, Belief ...
Epistemology is important because it is fundamental to how we think. ... What is Epistemology?: Epistemology is the investigation into the grounds and nature of knowledge itself. ...
What is epistemology?
Answer: Epistemology deals with the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. It addresses the questions, "What is knowledge? ...
What is Epistemology?
Epistemology is a branch of philosophy concerned with the possibility and extent of human knowledge. ... Epistemology aims to provide a foundation for what we consider to be ...