Vocabulary Flashcards
Important definitions (29 cards)
Belief
Doxa
A kind of mental state where an idea spontaneously appears in the mind
Certainty
Complete conviction, absence of doubt
What are Ceteris paribus (CP) laws?
Laws that describe how some events cause others, but only when all other influencing factors remain equal.
Define Confounding Variable.
A variable that is not the subject of study, but which might have an unintended effect on the dependent variable.
What is Confirmation Holism?
The idea that hypotheses cannot be tested individually, but only as a collective or whole, with their corresponding auxiliary hypotheses.
What does Deduction refer to?
A logical inference that moves from general premises to specific conclusions with certainty, preserving truth.
What is the Doxastic Theory of Knowledge?
The theory that knowledge requires belief, truth, and justification.
Define Empiricism.
The philosophy that knowledge comes from sensory experience rather than pure reason.
What are Epistemically Basic Propositions (EBP)?
Self-justifying propositions that are the foundation of other justified beliefs, and provide the highest degree of certainty.
What is Fallibilism?
The philosophical position that any belief could be mistaken, and that complete certainty is not attainable in empirical science.
Define Foundationalism.
The approach to justification that is based on the idea that all justified beliefs are supported by a foundation of basic beliefs with a high degree of certainty.
What is Frequentist Inference?
A school of statistical inference that assumes repeated sampling to estimate the plausibility of a given distribution.
What does the Gettier Problem challenge?
The traditional definition of knowledge as justified true belief, demonstrating that a belief can be justified and true but still not be knowledge.
Define Hermeneutics.
The rules for the interpretation of texts and other meaningful objects.
What is the Hypothetico-deductive Method?
A cyclic process of reasoning used to generate and test hypotheses, going from theory to hypothesis to observation.
What does Immunization refer to in scientific reasoning?
A strategy that uses auxiliary hypotheses to avoid falsification.
Define Induction.
A logical inference that moves from specific observations to general conclusions, but which is not truth-preserving.
What is Internalism?
The view that beliefs about the world are justified by further mental states, like experiential beliefs.
What does Justification mean?
Having sufficient reason to believe something.
Define Meta-Theory.
Theory about theory, including its development, criteria, and evaluation.
What is Methodic Doubt?
A philosophical method that involves systematically doubting the certainty of everything until a foundation of absolute certainty is established.
What is Operationalization?
The process of assigning observable phenomena (indicators) to abstract concepts (constructs) to make them measurable.
Define Paradigm in scientific discourse.
A framework or model within which a scientific discipline operates, including its assumptions, methods, and goals
What are Protocol Statements?
Observation statements that are directly verifiable, often used in early logical positivism.
