Philosophy and Worldview Flashcards

René Descartes' 'cogito ergo sum' ('I think, therefore I am') serves as?

Answer: An indubitable foundation for all certain knowledge

After doubting everything he could, Descartes found that the very act of doubting confirmed that he, as a thinking thing, must exist — providing an unshakeable epistemic foundation.

A valid syllogism in classical logic requires that?

Answer: The conclusion follows necessarily from the premises if they are true

Validity in logic means the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises by form alone, regardless of whether the premises are actually true.

John Locke's concept of the mind as a 'tabula rasa' (blank slate) opposes which position?

Answer: Rationalism's claim that humans possess innate ideas

Locke argued against Descartes and others who held that certain ideas (like God or mathematical truths) are innate, insisting all knowledge derives from sense experience.

Kant's categorical imperative in its first formulation instructs us to?

Answer: Act only according to maxims you could consistently will to be universal laws

Kant's universalizability formula asks whether the principle of your action could be made a universal law without contradiction — ruling out lying, for example, because universal lying would undermine the institution of truth-telling.

The correspondence theory of truth holds that a statement is true if and only if?

Answer: It corresponds to an actual state of affairs in reality

Correspondence theory, associated with Aristotle and common sense, holds that 'to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true.'

Which principle, fundamental to classical logic, states that a proposition cannot be both true and false at the same time and in the same respect?

Answer: The law of non-contradiction

Aristotle considered the law of non-contradiction the most certain of all principles, foundational to all rational discourse and demonstration.

What distinguishes deductive reasoning from inductive reasoning?

Answer: Deductive reasoning guarantees the conclusion if the premises are true; inductive reasoning only makes the conclusion probable

A deductively valid argument is truth-preserving — true premises guarantee a true conclusion — whereas inductive conclusions always carry some degree of uncertainty.