Belief Worlds and Epistemic Possibilities
ABSTRACT: This paper develops an individualistic, belief-based account for a limited class of epistemic possibility statements. Section I establishes the need for such an account by reviewing a recent version of the majority view (the "Relevant Community Account") and contesting two key assumptions. I argue that some epistemic possibilities are belief-based-contra the assumption that all are knowledge-based. Against the assumption that all epistemic possibility statements are analyzable in terms of the speaker's "relevant community," I contend that the truth value of some statements is a function of the speaker's epistemic states alone. Section II develops an alternative account designed to capture those internal, individual statements. Modeling belief sets as "belief worlds," I explain our epistemic processes in terms of an ability to shift attention among our various belief worlds.
Ever since G. E. Moore set out to explain the phrase "it's not certain that" and ended up offering a definition of epistemic possibility, ordinary uses of epistemic modal sentences have commanded more attention. A number of more recent accounts-which I'll call the "Moorean accounts"-follow Moore by analyzing all statements having the form "It's possible that p" uniformly. Their analysis is uniform in that they make two assumptions: first that some community is relevant in every case, and second that every statement is analyzable in terms of knowledge.
I think that both assumptions are false, so one thing I'll do today is to suggest truth conditions for statements failing of both assumptions-"individual, doxastic possibility statements." I will have time to contest only the first assumption, though, and will therefore help myself to my conclusion regarding the second; I will assume that the locution "It's possible that p" is not restricted to expressions of epistemic, that is, knowledge-based possibility, but may be used to express doxastic or belief-based possibility as well.
The first assumption-that some community is relevant to every use of "It's possible that p"-will be my main concern, then. To make the assumption in its stronger form, as Ian Hacking and Paul Teller do, is to treat all uses of "It's possible that p" as statements to be translated as "For all we know, p." But the locution "It's possible that p" is used not only for statements of that sort-for, in my terminology, "community statements"-but also for what I'll call "individual statements"-statements properly translated as "For all I know, p."
The assumption that some community is relevant to every use of "It's possible that p" is also made by Keith DeRose, but in a weaker form.
It is crucial that every belief must be thoroughly explored and justified to avoid any future repercussions. Clifford provides two examples in which, regardless of the outcome, the party that creates a belief without comprehensive justification ends up at fault. It is possible to apply the situations in The Ethics of Belief to any cases of belief and end up with the conclusion that justification is of utmost importance. Justifying beliefs is so important because even the smallest beliefs affect others in the community, add to the global belief system, and alter the believer moral compass in future decisions.
1 - The Lucas-Penrose argument — Lucas-Penrose argument runs as follows: Gödel's incompleteness theorem shows that computational systems are limited in a way that humans are not. In any consistent formal system powerful enough to do a certain sort of arithmetic there will be a true sentence — a Gödel sentence (G) — that the system cannot prove.
Dissociative Identity Disorder, also known as Multiple Personality Disorder is a psychological disorder that can be caused by many things, but the most common cause is severe childhood trauma which is usually extreme, repetitive physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. A lot of people experience mild dissociation which includes daydreaming or getting momentarilly distracted while completing everyday tasks. Dissociative identity disorder is a severe form of dissociation. Seveer Dissociation causes a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity. Dissociative identity disorder is thought to stem from a combination of factors that may include trauma experienced by the person with the disorder. When a
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, is characterized by a single patient inhabiting two or more personalities, or alters. Normally one personality at a time can be present.The patient is not normally aware of when the transition to a personality takes place, which is considered an amnesia or fugue like state. “Some predisposing factors making patients more apt to developing this disorder are: Having experienced a traumatic life event, most often in childhood, possessing tendency for the disorder to develop (biological or psychological), and the absence of external support from loved ones. Before a patient is diagnosed with DID, many are misdiagnosed. Some patients are diagnosed with depression,
Firstly, I shall expound the verification principle. I shall then show that its condition of significant types is inexhaustible, and that this makes the principle inapplicable. In doing so, I shall have exposed serious inconsistencies in Ayer's theory of meaning, which is a necessary part of his modified verification principle.
Boden, M. A. (2001, April 25). THE AGE OF INTELLIGENT MACHINES | The Social Impact
Rodríguez, Leonardo S. "The Interpretation Of Dreams [1900]." Australian & New Zealand Journal Of Psychiatry 35.3 (2001): 396-401. Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
This paper will dispute that scientific beliefs are not the right way to accept a belief and it will question if we should let one accept their rights to their own beliefs. In Williams James article Will to Believe, we accept his perspective on how we set and fix our beliefs. This paper will first outline his overview on the argument that someone does not choose their belief but rather one just has them. Following, it will outline my perspective on how we set our beliefs and agreement with purse. Then it will explain how other methodologies such as science cannot conclude to one’s true beliefs. Science has been seen as a way to perceive life and taken to consideration as the truth. This paper should conclude that humans define ourselves by
exempt to the possibilities that this is what could have happened. This argument does not
Other inclusions into an athlete’s training regime may include the use of Olympic lifts. These techniques have been shown to increase the power and strength of muscles, at a greater extent than power lifting or res...
Assigning a subjective prior probability to the ultimate hypothesis is unreliable. This is because prior probabilities are often determined from past information or past events that may have slightly different parameters e.g. the probability of being guilty of murder given a history of domestic abuse and the probability of being guilty of murder given no history of domestic abuse have different parameters and thus cannot be seen as the same event. Prior probabilities could also be purely determined by an expert’s subjective assessment, which are subjected to flaws.
Dissociation can be defined as the splitting of regular interconnected mechanisms of memory, consciousness, perception and identity which define a person (Waseem, 2016). Dissociative identity disorder is a type of dissociative disorder where 2 or more personalities exist together in an individual (Passer, Mitchell, Smith, Muir, & Akinson, 2014). There are several other possible physiological effects of dissociative identity disorder due to the unique personalities and skills set that each personality brings. These physiological changes can range from in the mind to physical activities based on each personality.
The Justified True Belief (JTB) theory of knowledge, often attributed to Plato , is a fairly straightforward theory of knowledge. It states that something must be true if person S believes proposition P, proposition P is true, and S is justified in believing in believing that P is true . While many consider the JTB theory to be vital to the understanding of knowledge, some, such as American Philosopher Edmund Gettier, believe that it is flawed. I tend to agree with Gettier and others who object to the JTB theory as an adequate theory of knowledge, as the JTB theory allows for a type of implied confirmation bias that can lead people to be justified in believing they know something even though it isn’t true.
Dissociative Identity Disorder (commonly know as Multiple Personality Disorder) is one of the most unexplored disorders and most debated psychiatric disorder. Through this essay you will become more knowledgeable about what the disorder really is; what qualifies you as having this disorder, what are the prognosis to DID, and what are risks for having this disorder? You will also learn about the treatment for Dissociative Identity Disorder; what kind of therapy do they need or the medicine they should have to help control the disorder. At the end of this paper you will then learn about current research and what the future holds for Dissociative Identity Disorder.
Socrates once said “To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.”(Citation ) The study of knowledge is something philosophers have been conducting from the creation of philosophy. In fact knowledge is one of the perennial topics of philosophy, just as nature of matter in the physical sciences. The discipline of knowledge is known as epistemology(Greek meaning of knowledge and reason). Epistemology is literally defined as means to reason about knowledge, to think about knowledge and to examine knowledge so that we may better ourselves. Philosophers who study knowledge attempt to study what makes up knowledge, the kinds of things one can know, what the limits of knowledge and above all, the age long question