Say you\u2019re on a plane to London and the passenger next to you asks, \u201cdo you know when the plane will land in London?\u201d You look at your itinerary and confidently reply, \u201cyes, 3pm.\u201d<\/p>\n
The passenger thinks for a moment, and then asks, \u201cdo you know<\/span> that we won\u2019t be delayed?\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d is your initial reaction, \u201cof course not. How could I know that?\u201d <\/p>\n But, then you realize, how do you know<\/span> that the plane will land at 3pm? <\/p>\n The point is to illustrate a principle called \u201cclosure.\u201d In it\u2019s bare logical form it goes like this:<\/p>\n 1) Subject (S) knows proposition (p) In many cases this makes perfect sense. Say, you know that a red stove-top means it\u2019s really hot. You know that something being really hot implies<\/span> that it will burn you (implies is just fancy talk for an if\u2026. then statement \u2013 if something is really hot, then it will burn you). Therefore you know that a red stove-top will burn you.<\/span> Got it?<\/p>\n But what if someone raised a question about the (q) \u2013 the implication <\/span>of the knowledge you thought you held? Then wouldn\u2019t you also doubt your (p) (your supposed knowledge that the plane will land at 3pm)? <\/p>\n This is epistemic anxiety. It is meant to show that once we begin to look upon claims with skepticism, that not much of what we claim to know (if anything) can survive free of the ever-growing avalanche of doubt that should ensue. After all, all of our beliefs have implications, right? And all of these implications could be openned up to doubt and perhaps shown to be false. <\/p>\n But maybe \u201cclosure\u201d is false. Maybe we can \u201cknow\u201d things like \u201cthe plane will land at 3pm\u201d even though we don\u2019t know<\/span> that \u201cthe plane won\u2019t be delayed.\u201d Sounds strange though, right?<\/p>\n hm\u2026. <\/p>\n In any case, this is one of the riveting aspects of Epistemology I have the pleasure of learning about this semester. Just thought I\u2019d spread the love \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n \u201cHuh?\u201d That\u2019s what I heard from one friend when I asked her, \u201cdon\u2019t you ever feel\u2026 I don\u2019t know\u2026 epistemic anxiety?\u201d Apparently it\u2019s quite common, even if us common folk don\u2019t know exactly what it is. Here is how it works: Say you\u2019re on a plane to London and the passenger next to you asks, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
2) S knows that p implies another proposition (q)
3) therefore S knows q<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7907151-116114684771814103?l=americanbuddhist.blogspot.com\")