Deck 8: What Is Knowledge?

Question 1

The branch of philosophy that tries to answer the question "What, exactly, is knowledge?" is

A) metaphysics.
B) epistemology.
C) aesthetics.
D) scientology.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

It is generally believed that there are three fundamental kinds of knowledge. Which of the following is not one of these?

A) Skill or ability
B) Acquaintance
C) Epistemic knowledge
D) Knowledge of facts

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which kind of knowledge are the following examples instances of?
Lachlan knows that Ottawa is the capital of Canada.
Shanice knows that there is no greatest prime number.
Hyeon knows that John Quincy Adams was the sixth president of the United States.

A) Skill or ability
B) Acquaintance
C) Epistemic knowledge
D) Knowledge of facts

Answer 3

D

Question 4

A proposition can be thought of as something that is expressed by a declarative sentence that

A) purports to state a fact.
B) states a fact.
C) purports to state one's opinion.
D) states one's opinion.

Question 5

Philosophers often describe the form of sentences of propositional knowledge as

A) S purports that p.
B) S purports p.
C) S knows that p.
D) S knows p.

Question 6

Almost all philosophers agree that if one knows that p is the case, then

A) p is true.
B) p cannot be false.
C) one believes that p.
D) All of the above

Question 7

Although one may believe that p, and p may be true, one may still not know that p. This situation is universally agreed to arise from

A) the use of induction (i.e., one can never acquire a sufficiently numerous and varied data set).
B) the use of abduction (i.e., one can never be sure one inferred the correct explanation).
C) the use of a priori reasoning (i.e., one may not have considered the role of a posteriori reasoning).
D) luck (i.e., one may not have been justified in believing p).

Question 8

A belief that p, which is acquired by luck, is missing the __________ aspect of knowledge.

A) truth
B) justification
C) epistemic certainty
D) All of the above

Question 9

Which of the following is equivalent to "If S knows that p, then S believes that p, p is true, and S's belief is justified"?

A) If S believes that p, then S knows that p, and p is true.
B) If S believes that p, then S knows that p, p is true, and S's belief is justified.
C) If S believes that p, and S's belief is justified, then S knows that p.
D) If S believes that p, and S's belief is both justified and true, then S knows that p.

Question 10

The philosopher __________ first claimed knowledge is justified true belief.

A) Plato
B) Aristotle
C) Descartes
D) Karl Popper

Question 11

Sometimes we have beliefs (Level-1) that are inferred and justified by other beliefs (Level-2), which are in turn inferred and justified by still other beliefs (Level-N), and so on. __________ was the first philosopher to ask where this sort of inference and justification stops.

A) Plato
B) Aristotle
C) Descartes
D) John Locke

Question 12

Aristotle noted that there are three possibilities as to where the chain of inference and justification of one belief by others may stop. Which of the following is not one of those possibilities?

A) It doesn't stop; the chain of beliefs that justify other beliefs is infinite.
B) The chain of justifying beliefs has a circular structure and eventually returns to where it started.
C) The chain of justifying beliefs is simply an illusion and all beliefs have the same justification.
D) There must be some justified beliefs that are not justified by other beliefs.

Question 13

Of the three possibilities as to where the chain of inference and justification of one belief by others may stop, Aristotle considered which of the following to be the only legitimate option?

A) It doesn't stop; the chain of beliefs that justify other beliefs is infinite.
B) The chain of justifying beliefs has a circular structure and eventually returns to where it started.
C) The chain of justifying beliefs is simply an illusion and all beliefs have the same justification.
D) There must be some justified beliefs that are not justified by other beliefs.

Question 14

Which possibility, regarding the chain of justification, can be used to justify any conclusion?

A) The chain of beliefs that justify other beliefs is infinite.
B) The chain of justifying beliefs has a circular structure and eventually returns to where it started.
C) The chain of justifying beliefs is simply an illusion and all beliefs have the same justification.
D) There must be some justified beliefs that are not justified by other beliefs.

Question 15

Which possibility, regarding the chain of justification, is referred to as Foundationalism?

A) The chain of beliefs that justify other beliefs is infinite.
B) The chain of justifying beliefs has a circular structure and eventually returns to where it started.
C) The chain of justifying beliefs is simply an illusion and all beliefs have the same justification.
D) There must be some justified beliefs that are not justified by other beliefs.

Question 16

Foundationalists claim that a belief is justified

A) if it is either basic or has been inferred from basic beliefs.
B) if it is either basic or has been inferred (using good reasoning) from basic beliefs.
C) only if it is a basic belief.
D) only if it has been inferred (using good reasoning) from basic beliefs.

Question 17

__________ was not a foundationalist.

A) Plato.
B) Aristotle.
C) Descartes.
D) John Locke.

Question 18

The most serious challenge facing foundationalism is

A) avoiding circularity.
B) avoiding an infinite regress.
C) specifying which beliefs are epistemically basic, and explaining why those beliefs are justified.
D) distinguishing epistemically basic beliefs from theological beliefs.

Question 19

Critics of foundationalism claim that talk of "self-justification" is

A) epistemically vacuous.
B) epistemically incoherent.
C) another way of saying that we should accept certain beliefs for no reason at all.
D) another way of saying that one prefers one's own beliefs over other beliefs.

Question 20

__________ used philosophy of science as a major source for its account of epistemic justification.

A) Foundationalism
B) Coherentism
C) Reliabilism
D) Skepticism

Question 21

While foundationalists think that our justified beliefs are structured like a building, coherentists maintain that our justified beliefs are structured like a(n)

A) web.
B) tree.
C) forest.
D) animal.

Question 22

For coherentists, an account of justification starts with __________ beliefs.

A) individual
B) basic
C) a system of interrelated
D) All of the above

Question 23

For coherentists, an individual belief, p, is justified

A) if S believes that p, and p is true.
B) if S believes that p is coherent.
C) in virtue of p's membership in a system of basic beliefs.
D) in virtue of p's membership in a coherent system of beliefs.

Question 24

Coherentists claim that the __________ relationship among beliefs is necessary for a system of beliefs to be coherent.

A) logical
B) inductive
C) explanatory
D) All of the above

Question 25

The "isolation objection" to coherentism claims that its account of epistemic justification is isolated from

A) other coherent beliefs one might have.
B) what is going on in the external world.
C) epistemically basic beliefs.
D) what happens in the practical scientific disciplines.

Question 26

__________ is an externalist approach to epistemic justification.

A) Foundationalism
B) Coherentism
C) Reliabalism
D) Skepticism

Question 27

For one version of reliabilism, the epistemic justification of beliefs depends on the

A) processes that produce the beliefs.
B) basic quality of the beliefs.
C) internal coherence of the beliefs.
D) external coherence of the beliefs.

Question 28

A belief is justified for a reliabilist when that belief

A) arises from a more basic belief.
B) is a member of a coherent set of beliefs.
C) is produced by a process that yields a relatively high proportion of true beliefs and a relatively low proportion of false beliefs.
D) is produced by a process that yields absolute certainty.

Question 29

Invalid inference strategies may nonetheless be legitimate under which of the following approaches to epistemic justification?

A) Foundationalism
B) Coherentism
C) Reliabilism
D) Skepticism

Question 30

For reliabilism, beliefs formed on the basis of "testimony" are

A) always legitimate.
B) never legitimate.
C) sometimes legitimate.
D) legitimate if not acquired from Fake News.

Question 31

Skepticism claims that the justification a person has for her belief

A) must guarantee that the belief is true.
B) must make it likely that the belief is true.
C) is always circular, and thus can never be shown to be legitimate.
D) is always inaccessible to her own mind.

Question 32

Philosophers who do not think that justification of a belief must guarantee that belief's truth are called

A) internalists.
B) externalists.
C) skeptics.
D) fallibilists.

Question 33

Edmund Gettier used what have come to be called "Gettier cases" to show that one can

A) know something without justification.
B) know something without it being true.
C) have a true belief that is not justified.
D) have a justified true belief that is not an instance of knowledge.

Question 34

Which of the following is not a declarative sentence?

A) Alba is tall.
B) It is summer.
C) Summer is warm.
D) Close the door.

Question 35

Explain knowledge as acquaintance, knowledge how, and propositional knowledge. Include examples of each.

Question 36

Explain foundationalism and one objection to it.

Question 37

Explain coherentism and one objection to it.

Question 38

Compare and contrast internalism and externalism.

Question 39

Discuss the brain in a vat thought experiment as a criticism of internalism.