PHIL 215

PHIL 215: Epistemology
Instructor: Luke McNulty

Course Description:

'I exist,’ ‘God exists,’ ‘The sun will rise tomorrow,’ ‘2+2=4,’ ‘All bachelors are male,’ ‘All crows are black,’ ‘One ought not to lie.’ These are beliefs that a person might claim to know. But what, exactly, would such a person be claiming? What is knowledge, and how can we tell when we have it? These are the fundamental questions of epistemology. These questions lead to others: Is knowledge even possible? What does it mean to say a belief is justified? What is the relationship between justification and truth? What are reliable sources of knowledge (e.g., perception, memory, reason, testimony)? Is there a distinctive ethics of belief? If so, what ethical principles might guide us in this risky business of believing? Is the sex of the knower epistemically significant?

In our strange new political atmosphere of ‘fake news,’ ‘alternative facts,’ and accelerated media spin, we lack clear answers to these questions, and it is easy to feel epistemically adrift. In this course, we will look to the writings of classical and contemporary philosophers in hopes of finding our bearings.