Understanding Truth, Knowledge, and Reasoning

Understanding Truth and Knowledge

Truth is a quality that applies to knowledge.

Types of Knowledge:

• Conjecture: Uncertain knowledge.
• Faith: Knowledge that cannot be proven.
• Knowledge: Uncertain knowledge that can be demonstrated.

Philosophical Perspectives:

• Epistemological Sense: The study of reality.
• Ontological Sense: The understanding of something's existence within reality.

Knowledge: Objective knowledge, which is a provable belief corresponding to reality.

Ignorance: The state of not having any knowledge, neither true nor false; an unknown truth.

Ignorant: Believing one knows something when they do not.

Dogmatic: Asserting or believing something without justification, often with anger, believing it to be self-evident. Dogmatic individuals do not feel the need for justification and seek a sense of security. This can be a way to deceive and avoid acknowledging ignorance.

Skeptical: A soft skeptic neither affirms nor denies anything. A radical skeptic believes that human beings can never be certain of anything, claiming there is no truth and that humans only *believe* they know. This position is self-contradictory, and like the dogmatic, unknowingly leads to ignorance.

Certainty: A feeling that makes us believe something is real, even if it is not.

• Objective Certainty: Having evidence to prove the truth of a statement.
• Subjective Certainty: Having faith in something without proof or evidence.

Proof: Providing sufficient evidence to establish truth.

• Empirical Evidence: Often insufficient, as claims require proof beyond mere belief.
• Analytical Test: Analyzing a statement to quickly reach a logical conclusion through rapid thought.

Limits of Proof:

• Outer Limits: Proof is not always possible.
  • Technology: Limited resources or access may prevent reaching certain experiences.
  • Legal: Laws may prohibit demonstrating certain things through experience.
• Internal Limits:
  • Scope: The nature of some things prevents proof.
  • Reliability: Experience can be misleading due to physical, physiological, or psychological factors, distorting our perception of reality.

Laboratory Test:

• Elements: Premise, Conclusion, Deixis (demonstration).
• Argument: A psychological question.

• Fallacy: A convincing argument (with psychological force) that is not demonstrably true.
• Reasoning: Possesses a logical structure.

• Any argument has a logical structure; that is what distinguishes it from a fallacy.

Fallacy: Attempting to prove something based on what someone else says.

Reasoning: A set of true arguments leading to a conclusion. To prove something, one must follow a logical course to deduce it.

Premises: Findings upon which we rely to conclude something. They must be universal and without exceptions.

Reasoning is not true or false; it is valid or invalid.

Logical Form of Reasoning:

• A implies B. B / Therefore, A (Invalid).
• A implies B. B / Therefore, B implies A (Valid).

Types of Fallacies:

1. Ad Hominem: Attacking the person making the argument, not the argument itself.
2. Ad Verecundiam: Appeal to authority or respect.
3. Tu Quoque: Deflecting criticism by returning the accusation.
4. Ad Ignorantiam: Trying to prove something is true because it is not known to be false, or vice-versa.
5. Ad Populum: Appealing to popular sentiment or emotions.
6. Ad Misericordiam: Appealing to pity or sympathy.
7. Ad Baculum: Appeal to force or threat.