Tap to unmute
Epistemology: How Do I Know? | Episode 1807 | Closer To Truth
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2025
- Donate to Closer To Truth and help us keep our content free and without paywalls: shorturl.at/OnyRq
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with the theory of knowledge. How can we have confidence in what we know or believe? What is knowledge? What is belief? How is belief justified? And is justified belief knowledge? How can we not doubt everything? Featuring interviews with Robert Audi, Meghan Sullivan, Bas C. van Fraassen, Louis Caruana, and David Bentley Hart.
Season 18, Episode 7 - #CloserToTruth
▶Register for free at CTT.com for subscriber-only exclusives: bit.ly/2GXmFsP
Closer To Truth host Robert Lawrence Kuhn takes viewers on an intriguing global journey into cutting-edge labs, magnificent libraries, hidden gardens, and revered sanctuaries in order to discover state-of-the-art ideas and make them real and relevant.
▶Free access to Closer to Truth's library of 5,000 videos: bit.ly/376lkKN
Closer to Truth presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.
#Epistemology #Consciousness
Did you learn anything new about epistemology? We'd like to hear about it in the comments!
If you enjoyed this episode of Closer To Truth, please consider subscribing. You can find more episodes from Season 18 in the Season 18 playlist on our channel: @t
Closer To Truth u seem lose an epistemological stance when u talk to religious people n not ask the right questions! Do u have an agenda of fueling their belief system?
The Globe earth is nothing but an idiotic belief. Like much of so called Science.
This i Know. Would like to ask, how you know where you are?
If you have no knowledge of where you are
then what are you doing in this place you do not know?
Yeah, I'd learn a lot and question even more. But this is the magic of learning
@@mikebell4649 what would you call the right question to you? You mean like asking the person " do you believe in god" or asking " give me the proof of god now "???
Robert, that guy, van Fraassen, is incredibly intelligent. I would love to be in one of his classes as a young person. I was as surprised as he when you didn't relent on your faith in photons when he pointed out that the whole enterprise of perceptual science was based on the fact that one could perceive a color, like brown. I guess we all have some hill that we are willing to die on.
Anyone else just stumble upon Epistemology and now you question everything around you? Maybe Im just super high right now but wow my mind is blown
Nah, I came looking, I think.
How would I know?
My reality since philosophy 101
I just found epistemology but I already questioned everything.
Eh, Max Stirner's ontology brought me here, lol.
Mind phux all the way down
I think of a question, Robert comes with a video. Love this channel.
I feel so blessed to have found this channel on TH-cam. This show is so thought provoking and informative.
You can download the podcast versions free on iTunes
Most especially since we are on a platform where everyone is giving arguments based on what they feel
agree
Thought provoking: Yes. Informative; not so much. There is never a conclusion to these videos or a sense of closure. Every one of these videos seems to end with questions and not answers.
@@blaster-zy7xx that's one of the things that's so great about it
This is such an amazing channel.
You are doing an amazing job Robert.
Never stop ♥️
What I like most about this video is how critical Robert is even towards professors
Dear Sir Robert Kuhn,
i wish that the cosmos will give you a long and truthful life so that you can continue making videos like these.
i want you to know that i deeply appreciate all of its contents. you are my ultimate buddy on my personal quest for truth. this place we are currently in is kind of deppressing and full of uncertainty. im only 29 years old but i am already filled with disturbing questions about my existence and origin.
thank you so much for giving me some comfort and temporary answers.
Leo
You are not alone ,
Has this American chap really been given a knighthood?
I feel you. I'm 23 and on some level I feel lile humans did not evolve to ask such questions on a deep level. It's almost like a robot who deeply amd happily believes in god and looking at its source code and realizing that its just bits. I feel we probably didn't evolve for this and the healthy mind isn't meant to probe these things for too long.
My brain read that in Japanese and you are now flirting
Leo, keep searching - there is a place of certainty that can be known.
I suddenly find myself excited to watch a video about epistemology
this channel is exceptional at creating an interest to learn more ... bravo
Today is the first I've heard the word epistemology.. Goggled it.. Got it.. I love how much this channel has opened my mind and how much of a learning process I've experienced here.. Big fan..
This is possibly the best channel on TH-cam. This is no easy feat.
Aka I really like this channel lol
This stuff is stupid and doesn't make sense to me. Try Joe Rogan, he's a totally sick dude.
This gentleman is quite eloquent...very clear as to his deep thoughts
Robert you and this channel are amazing! Thank you so much! So, insightful, so fun.
This program helped me understand the nature of blind faith vs. reasonable belief. I sat through catechism classes with two friends. They supposedly found faith while I remained skeptical. My assertion is that they are fooling themselves. They get really upset when I assert my assertion. It was mean of me but it's so obvious.
I love your quest, Robert. For some reason, I am fascinated by this kind of questions and find the exploration to be personally autotelic. Thanks for sharing!
This is my favorite episode that I've watched. I need to watch it a couple more times. I'm not a philosopher or scholar. These just help me admit to myself I don't "know" what I thought I knew. I'm not going to abandon ship, I'm just gonna shut up a little more.
Sam, I'm right there with you. Socrates would embarrass people by publicly showing that they didn't actually know what they were so proud to proclaim as ultimate truth. I've come to believe that "I don't know" is the first step to wisdom.
Agree, Socratic method which led to the Scientific method. Are the only ways we can indirectly know and understand reality.
El video me ha parecido un excelente trabajo. Valoro las tomas y los diferentes lugares y personas entrevistados. La edición no debe haber sido fácil. La luz y el sonido. Que parezca realizado sin esfuerzo cuando tiene tanto trabajo es algo que valoro enormemente. Quiero agradecerles por eso.
Sobre el contenido me ha parecido realmente interesante,entretenido,original. Lo he disfrutado,aprendí, me cuestioné y salí cambiada. Gracias por regalarme tantas diferentes capas de información. Mi mente está en una tienda de dulces, excitada y entretenida.
Gracias por esto. Muchos éxitos. Les deseo lo mejor. Cordial saludo.
Y...quien soy yo para juzgar lo que hacen? Pero creo que puedo valorar el esfuerzo que contiene y a mí parecer ha sido excelente.
I agree, and am pleased that I can pretty much translate what you wrote in Espanol ...I still can't speak it though.
Seriously, this is amazing channel. I love the interviews. About skepticism, I picked the idea that we don't have 'right' to cast doubt on some knowledge, for example, the brown, yet we are using more problematic words or language to cast our doubt. It becomes circular and we can't break out of it. Instead, as a young student of theology, i would take the last advice of spirituality that insists that there could objective truth that we can't even prove in words or any form of evidence. Epistemology is real frightening!
I have enjoyed this channel since I discovered it (although I was surprised to learn Kuhn is not a philosopher by trade). This is arguably the best episode I have screened thus far, and I have screened quite a few.
Bottomline is we cannot "know" anything, and we will always be searching using the limited "tools" we have available to us, one being language itself which will always be nothing more than a never ending search to describe anything and everything.
This is the best, most susinct summation of the problem I have seen here on TH-cam. I got my BA in philosophy and my experience was that people, professors and students alike, tended to sweep these questions under the carpet once they found an argument strong enough to support their intuitions. Epistemology is intelectual criptonite.
This is the GREATEST series on the GREATEST topics known to man!
The fact that one can have favourite epistemologist is a new thought. I do admire too the person reply when he was asked the question. He said he himself is his favourite
The more I watch this channel, the more I am thinking of thinking
Don't forget to think about not thinking, too 😅
I'm serious. Also experimenting with not thinking about white elephants for a given period of time can be quite informative 😊
I mean, those who do not meditate most likely can only think about the end results of their own thinking or the end results of those who either directly (via some cognitive techniques, eg mindfulness) or indirectly (via scientific experiments) investigate the process of thinking itself.
Once a woman took me home from the dance club for a one night stand. She had a book titled "epistemology" on her book shelf. She ghosted me after that, but I've never forgotten her.
How do you know she existed? How do you know it was a one night stand if the potential for another sexual encounter isn’t impossible? (I’m just being dumb for the epistemology video don’t pay attention to me)
"Epistemology, the knowledge of knowing, is part of ontology, the knowledge of being, for knowing is an event within the totality of events." - Paul Tilich
Oversimplified…
"I need to be fearless to get closer to the truth!" Amen sir!
Stellar... simply stellar.
I think "common sense" at 4:25, means that while there "coiuld be interference" this is a modal logic proposition, but there is no evidence to support any (philosophic) belief that there is any interference. This is a instance of Occam's Razor.
I like the definition of "Knowledge is belief connected with the fact in the right way." However, knowledge while is certainly of "truth/reality", knowledge can also be of falsity. I have determined that the main function of knowledge towards truth is to provide a sentient creature with the sustainable means to navigate reality; thus falsity leads to pre-mature death, while truth does not (when acted upon, again, in the right way [towards sustainability]).
Simply mind-blowing and mind-boggling!
"How do I know what I say I know?"... Right now that is the leading question in my mind. Until I find an acceptable answer to that I shall have a headache.
Amazing !
Epistemology is underrated please be better than your algorithms
I love philosophy bcz it asks the biggest questions.
Unnecessary knowledge
@@ضاد-ق2ج you don’t know much about philosophy do you?
@@memduhturan5980 I don't need unnecessary knowledge, therefore I am.
@@ضاد-ق2ج if you think Islam opposes Philosophy you should do some research?
Knowing what lies behind the desire to know is ignored knowledge. Knowing about it is essential to try to satisfy our desire to know.
....and the winner of The Best Word Salad Award goes to ..........................................................................................................................................
21:58 DAAAAVID BENTLEY HAAAAAAAAAAAAAART! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽✨🎉
Thank you Sir..
I gotta say that I love when RLK gets questioned himself he falls apart. He is told why the idea of the "photon" is more intellectually believable to him. The assumptions he makes about the optic nerve, lateral geniculate and the visual cortex which is greater than the assumptions he has to make about the brown pew.
Wonderful! Thanks!
We can say that we "know" things, but how do we know we know? We don't. Being convinced of a belief does not make that belief true, it just makes it true that we are convinced. We could be wrong but we don't think we are. At the most basic level, if everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet, what we "know" is true only if everybody else would reach the same conclusion when presented with the same evidence. It might be called "functional truth". And that's the best we've got. Absolute truth might exist, but it is not accessible.
'Consciousness' is that which perceives.
'Knowledge' (Mind/Truth) is that which is perceived.
No more, no less, no conditions.
Lots of mathematical knowledge is not perceived (in)directly. How about that?
@@Littleprinceleon 'Knowledge' is whatever we are perceiving at the moment.
If it is perceived, it exists; if it exists, it is perceived. All-inclusive.
If exists = is Real = is Truth! All inclusive!
I’m always using this phrase... closer to truth... in research courses.
Exactly lol
So as I was just randomly watching videos on TH-cam as you do, a thought came to me which made me pause what I was viewing, which was probably just something stupid, the thought was ‘I don’t actually know as much as I think I do because the vast majority of my knowledge is just what I’ve been told or viewed in a video or read in a book, but I’ve hardly ever gone onto physically check if the information was true and just take it on faith that it is.’
Let's say you watch a documentary about a distant galaxy. What the heck would it mean to "physically check the information"? Would you in person analyze all the pixel data of the given telescopes or would you only believe if you would be granted direct access to all the electrons in the detectors that were hit by photons from that galaxy?
Justification for belief may be establishing a sound basis to know something sufficient for a person, whether scientific equations, theories of nature, philosophical principle or divine revelation.
To know things you have to first ask the right questions. That’s easier said than done.
The "knowing" in of itself is instinctive: A sole somatic capacity to just know.
Epistemology has allowed me to be a better human. I don't take things at face value like I did when I was very young. I was taught by my parents and other elders as to what was the truth, but when I learned epistemology I started to question what is true, what is knowledge and what is reality.
The color brown of the furniture is sufficient for the meeting of the two persons (aesthetic), but may not be sufficient for using the furniture in ways different than sitting for a meeting.
Love your channel Robert, and love to think about it to.
My thoughts go to asking, why do we not question the meaning of words, the meaning of meaning and why knowing more words seem to dominate the intelligence.
Is intelligence based on words?
why is "love" taught to be the same and in connection with God?
when we know in the arab world a man can have more than one wife, can his love be the same as the love of loving one woman? the love of a father to his son is other than the love to his wife,
do we fit words, as title, names, introductories, just to confirm we are right in what we say?
or is the logic depending on better words to continue its level? why can we be convinced or is it the influenced way to fit in the puzzle?
I think the fundamental problem is in believing that we can understand everything.
Indeed. Not everyone can, but collectively we could.
13:45 all knowledge beings with experience... how do you KNOW that? He has accepted Empiricism and so this is one of his dogmas. It's called the Peripatetic axiom and has formally been around since Aristotle. The problem is that Kant and others have shown it to be inadequate and nothing is less reliable than human senses which are easily and perhaps constantly deceived.
When I make plans, I like to say for example, "if all goes well, I will go to Hawaii in June".
"God willing"
I SAY INCHALLAH "IN GOD'S WILL"
Once we reach the end of our understanding we create more concepts to expand on the already existing web of symbols in order to increase our understanding aka increase complexity aka create the possibility of understanding by implying there being something that's not understood. Because information is structured data. Structure implies rules, rules are forced restrictions.
So knowledge is the forced limiting of our perception of reality for the sole purpose of creating knowledge in the first place. Knowledge is really just limiting yourself. That's why unlearning is far more insightful than learning. Instead of adding onto the filters, let's get rid of them. Let's see what is, rather than what we think is based on the countless limits we put on our perception via means of buying into the idea of understanding. Complexity arises when one trys to explain reality with words. Because words are clunky.
Trying to explain the world is symptomatic of our belief that knowledge is better than no knowledge. Knowledge is no more than fiction.
Also language implies object and verb. That's why I am. But a language with only verbs would dictate that there is being. But no I that is. Just being. Now that would feel equally as true if we were brought up that way. Thinking is taught. You cannot argue for knowledge by using knowledge. That's like fixing a hammer with itself. If you value knowledge over belief it's because you believe in knowledge. It's an endless cycle. Best get off the bicycle from time to time
Marshall Vian Summers writes incredibly well about Knowledge, our inner wisdom, our connection to the Source and the universe. A good book to start with, for example, is one called the Power of Knowledge. All of his texts are free online, just google it.
I found the Professor of Logic.
'Knowledge' is whatever we are perceiving at the moment.
If it is perceived, it exists; if it exists, it is perceived. All-inclusive.
If exists = is Real = is Truth! All inclusive!
The First Law of Soul Dynamics;
"For every Perspective, there is an equal and opposite Perspective!"
"The complete Universe/Mind/Reality/Truth/God... or any feature herein, can only be completely defined/described as the synchronous sum-total of all Perspectives!"
One! ;)
What is "a moment"? What is time?
Without knowing what is time all your knowledge is just an ever changing caleidoscope of concepts.
@@Littleprinceleon What is "a moment"?
~~~ In the instance in which I used 'moment', it refers to the timeless Now!
What is time?
~~~ An illusion. A denizen of thought/duality/illusion. No one has ever directly experienced 'time'. All that is ever experienced is the metaphysical Now!
Without knowing what is time all your knowledge is just an ever changing caleidoscope of concepts.
~~~ All we ever can demonstrate perceiving are 'concepts'. All we perceive is 'concepts'.
Not anything 'changes'. The perceived Now! never 'changes'.
But you are right, all knowledge is concepts, Mind!
I’m not religious, but I always enjoy the clips of the last guy interviewed. He’s like an encyclopedia of ways to talking meaningfully about god.
Perhaps that IS being religious. Maybe deeply
The divide in this country is wide and deep but at its core is epistemology.
Spot on chap
16:13 holy HELL that smooth beat hit me like a ton of bricks,
Robert is smarter, more reasonable and deeper than most everyone he speaks to. Thanks Robert for showing us how the experts are anything but that.
You can know everything, but while keeping it you don't know what it is! Only in the moment you got it or you loos it you know!
Robert Lawrence Kuhn, are you there?
We should enquire just because we were given that ability, other animals cannot... To be human is to ultimately be skeptic... Is this knowledge, belief or justified belief?
Knowledge come from/through cognition...
Truth can be percieved thru Reason/intuition and thru experience..
There are two types of knowledge, internal knowledge( world of cause and reality)) and external(physical reality) knowledge
Like seeing the external person(eyes, head, face hand body feet== external outside form), but there is a internal inner person ( invisible Mind , inner character= the internal world of Cause/reality)..
As stated by apostle Paul in Romans 1: 20...
How can we know s person ? We can know him thru his works/actions and words..
We can know God thru his WORDS(recorded scriptures) and thtu his works of creation...
Love this one! Yes question everything! God wants us to seek him with all our heart ,soul ,and mind.🤔💓🙏
Which imaginary sky daddy is it?🤣
Clincher argument: "..but come on!"
amazing
It is interesting to know God and toknow about God. Thank you very much. It is enlighting.
I wonder if it's technically possible to reduce all concepts down to a single, fundamental idea in which all other concepts branch out of. It's likely the first sound we uttered with which we attached a set, transferable meaning. It would have to be a concept described by actions because no words would exist to describe it. This rabbit hole of thought gets interesting very quickly. I really do wonder what that word would be.
This is what the philosopher descarte did. Its called foundationalism
@@hamis490 I don't think Descartes actually did this. He only got down to three foundational principles: I think, therefore I am; God is necessarily good; and clear and distinct knowledge. Of course, these principles also require their own more fundamental concepts: God, goodness, I, thinking, necessity, etc.
I think better examples are philosophers like Parmenides, Plato, and Aristotle. They all sought to ground reality in a single concept, like Being or the Good, which is either the ultimate source of all else or itself the totality of all that is.
I don't see why the fundamental concept would have to be described by actions. Even if it pre-dates other concepts used for verbal description, appropriate verbal description could arise later and then be applied to it.
Regarding the possibility of such a fundamental concept, Quine famously argued against it in quite a compelling way. Quine's argument is what the Dean of Philosophy at the Gregorian University is talking about when he discusses holism at 19:18.
It is a sign of the apocalypse that this channel has only 164K subscribers.
i'm with you there. while i am totally accepting of the fact that not everyone is a deep philosophical thinker, it is more my concern about any given person believing something that is factually wrong for ANY reason.
and hell, while epistemology is often a strong case for atheism, you can JUST as easily reason through means of epistemology that "a creator may exist" (without using any potentially fake stories or prophecies, so NO ROOM FOR RELIGION!!!!), by just saying, well as far as the big bang goes, we don't know what caused that, so i'm inclined to believe there is a creator who caused it etc. etc.) {i don't personally believe there is a creator, but if you presuppose yourself to that idea that there is no creator in an argument with a theist, then good luck having them understand your point of your whatsoever :P}
i think this is why religious people are so afraid of epistemology, but like Anthony Magnabosco on youtube shows you, epistemology can be applied to literally ANY idea that you have a sided opinion on to determine if you came to your belief in a reasonable manner, most importantly, without any presupposed biases
Let me tell everyone this channel is like no other. Like no other in the sense that it dares question that that many won't. Answers is what we need and this shows puts all on the test for the answers we all need.
As you keep searching for truth , youll come to lose all importance. Until youve lost importance, youll never understand what is important. Im not speaking nonsense, its the key to losing bias. Enlightenment is knowing its okay to just do. Beyond that is doing, without hesitation, whatever you think.
I’m holding an idea of a cup of coffee right now, but am sad that I will never fully hold an actual cup of coffee…..but the caffeine is real 😊
"Testimony" just a fancy way to say "Because I said so"
Science is your answer to gaining knowledge. Forget about religion, there's no evidence, in fact belief without evidence seems to be a virtue.
Yeah, I have a hard time staying with "religion is a way of knowing" meanderings. It's just equivocation and gobbledygook to me.
It’s all about survival; beliefs help us survive.
My favorite epistemologist is Dr Harry Binswanger, author of How We Know.
"How do I know"...where Robert gets all those turtle necks. The answer will bring you closer to truth.
Stopped clocks are right at least twice per day
If 'certain' means that we can't be wrong, then we aren't certain about anything, but the quest for certainty is not a good starting point. A better starting point is the realization that after making a decision that things could have been better, and then undertaking to do better in the future. In the most general sense, that's what philosophy is: the attempt to do better in the future. That activity comes with beliefs and values. The world is a certain way, and it could have been better. That is not an activity that is argued for. It arose out of the development of conscious life, and evolutionary processes produced consciousness, most likely, because being able to make such decisions had a general fitness advantage, which is the explanation generally given for why evolutionary processes produce any complicated system. Doubt is useful for making advances, but general doubt is not. It doesn't count in favor of one claim about the world over another, except for the claim that we can be certain. Applying universal doubt to other areas is just a category mistake. "Hey! That's my car!" "No it's not. You might be a brain in a vat. There might not be a car!" "In that case, the same thing applies to you!" Possibly being right is consistent with possibly being wrong. Certainty is unobtainable, but progress, systems of beliefs that allow great control over what happens, along with clarification as to what values are better, can be achieved. As Steven Pinker says, even the most ardent denier of truth and progress prefers her surgery with anesthesia.
👍
It might be useful to think of doubt and confidence as the opposite ends of a continuous spectrum. Because then they aren't mutually exclusive anymore. For example, you can have 90% confidence and 10% doubt about something at the same time. And if you don't know something, then it's the same as having evenly balanced confidence and doubt at 50% each.
If you look at confidence and doubt co-existing together, rather than being mutually exclusive, then you can have an open mind and be ready to change it, when new evidence either increases or decreases your confidence. But if you look at confidence and doubt in binary terms, then this is like being a fanatic, so totally sure about your knowledge or lack of it, that no facts and no evidence can change it.
It's true that people have both capabilities and failings, when it comes to knowing things. That's why having varying degrees of confidence and doubt at the same time makes the most sense.
Why do we need it to be empirically true in order to accept it as a possible beneficial aspect to our lives? I have interwoven a type of aporia into my belief system. I'm aware of how there is no one person in this universe that truly knows everything and can undoubtedly prove it. Having accepted that (assuming it is "true"), it somewhat frees me to move about my life unaffected by the fact that some portions of my beliefs could very strongly be false which allows me to care less and appreciate things (events/phenomena) as best as I can perceive them. E.g. I grew up believing in Santa Claus, I become aware that it's all a fantasy, I accept he is not real but continue to indulge in the fantasy because it's fun and it makes me "happy", all the while never losing sight of the fact that it's not real. The deeper issue behind it all is that I would like for it to be real. This is where I've found myself in my quest for truth and I'm at a standstill. Deep down it troubles me that the bigger issue here is not whether something is true but that I need it to be to make sense of what I'm doing here to make bigger sense of why I am here. So, what has been keeping me afloat for now is the idea that as long as we aren't hurting others or ourselves by indulging in certain unproven beliefs, I think we can give ourselves the permission to indulge in certain beliefs that might never be empirically proven but could possibly give us some type of illusion of happiness. That's all I got so far. Anyway, as Captain Mulder says, #iwanttobelieve.
I'm in a similar boat. I've deconstructed every belief I've ever had(right down to existence itself) and am now allowing myself to indulge in some that I know are unlikely to be true because it feels nice and helps me feel like life is worth living.
@@jessewestlund5159 Beautiful to know we are here together :)
@@jessewestlund5159 So you don't care if your beliefs are true, you fill your head with stupid stuff because it makes you feeel good. Does the stupid stuff that makes you feel good influence your vote and inflict your stupid stuff on others?
@@corydorastube I’m curious what sort of beliefs you think I’m indulging in.
@@jessewestlund5159 By your own admission BS that you know is unlikely to be true. That sounds to me like you don't care. I care. I want to believe as many true things and a few false things as possible. Show me that a belief I have held is false and it will be in the garbage can like an old newspaper.
People just listen to media, authority figures or their intuition.. it seems epistemology is lost.
We need it now more than ever
What is the relation of it to Virtue epistemology by Ernest Sosa
God is all knowing. HE is the only ONE. We can do nothing or know anything without HIM.
Closer To Truth, I have long subscribed to your channel, and consider it one of the very few things that I find worth watching. I appreciate how unassuming you are, your doubts, and your curious disposition. However, I noticed that almost NONE of your panelists ever discuss non-White philosophers, scientists, etc. For example, it is my opinion that Al Ghazali makes Descartes look like a novice, if not a plagiarist, when it comes to describing knowledge. Yet, the latter is famous globally, while the former remains mostly obscured. I state this with admiration and affection for you.
We appreciate your point. Closer To Truth is striving to add more non-Western philosophy and philosophers. See below for our start. Much more is coming in CTT's partnership with the Global Philosophy of Religion Project at the University of Birmingham.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr (multiple interviews/topics) - closertotruth.com/contributor/seyyed-nasr/profile
Mahmoud Ayoub (multiple interviews/topics) - closertotruth.com/contributor/mahmoud-ayoub/profile
Hamza Yusuf - Islam in the Global Philosophy of Religion Project - th-cam.com/video/8us98dDs5gI/w-d-xo.html
Thanks! I'm looking for opinions on the following, quite unusual statement+question pair:
(T1) "The number of questions one can ask about the world is astronomical. How can {a piece of software} contain all those questions?"
Have I gotten epistemology, and ontology, I am confused.
skepticism is a virtue
I disagree, why should I believe that? I suppose definition might be a good start. Perhaps I have brought baggage to that word. But my first thought would be that, in and of itself, that is not true. It needs a qualifier. Change my mind?
I can think of many situations where skepticism would be foolish.
@@Jamie-Russell-CME defintion: a skeptical attitude; doubt as to the truth of something. By your very "disagreement" you are exercising skepticism so your comment is somewhat incoherent. you are using the very thing you are questioning.
levity aside how can not taking for granted the truth of a matter not be the more virtuous path.
Can somebody please recommend to me channels similar to this, I am yearning to find content that makes me question my ideas, opinions, and logic?
Go to Closer To Truth's channel page by clicking the channel name beneath the video title. Then click the "CHANNELS" tab and I think you will find some channels to explore and they too will have similar link lists on their pages. It seems to me this channel is quite unique, though, so I don't know how similar you will find them. Luckily, Closer To Truth have several hundred, if not thousands of videos to choose from.
If thats the case, you dont want shows like this! Nothing but Robert trying to square his religious fantasies with Science. If you really want to have your eyes opened with logic, I recommend the Atheist Experience with Matt Dillahunty.
I suggest Philosophy Overdose. It has a broad range of philosophy content, mostly interviews with prominent philosophers and full lectures recorded at universities. As a smaller channel, there is less bad philosophy to sort through in the comments. A lot of the commenters also participate in longer discussions, responding to those who respond to them.
americanphilosopher is another good one. It has lots of short videos with Richard Rorty and his critics. I'm not sure if it's still active in uploading videos, though.
It helps to become more generic to all aspects of life and generate more questions to all aspects. Never ending chain reaction.
11:14 "..trust your beliefs" that's garbage advice what if your beliefs are based on poor evidence or worst yet no evidence. oh that pesky skepticism the bane of religion, superstition and spiritual woo woo. gooooo skepticism.
Skepticism, a given to all who remain in holding religious beliefs.
W.C. Fields. : Trust everyone, but cut the cards.
I usually listen to these videos rather than watching them. I heard Prof Robert Audi speaking, and I thought he was a young man.
.....better than an old man
There is a true spirituality but it is not from the ancient calendar it is through scientific Consciousness that it lays before your eyes. One example of many Universal connectedness
I honestly try to understand and follow the religious explanations, but it always sounds desperate and condescending at the same time.
I can listen to physicists, and follow what they say, maybe I don’t apprehend and or fully understand it, but with the religious philosophers, they just seem to be trying so hard to hold on to an idea that has virtually no reason for anyone to hold on to it. It really sounds dishonest even, because they know they have nothing to impart, but just need to keep floating the idea to prop it up like a dead carcass that we have to keep looking at, hanging on a cross. We get it, we all die and that is repugnant to our urge to life. The cognitive dissonance can be hard to deal with. But mortality denial doesn’t move us forward it actually holds us back. That instinct is no longer healthy.
22:00 Wait! Stop! How did you just assert that we know that God isn't evil? I can make a pretty good argument that God IS evil. Or at least caries out evil deeds. I would have stopped him right there.
@@88SunsetStrip RIGHT! not to mention murdering all the children and babies and animals not on the ark with his massive worldwide flood? Or convincing a father to murder his own son? or the God who created child caner, birth defects, and parasites that kill children before they can learn about such a loving God? Hummmm.
The fact you can conceive of a morally perfect being is proof that god is a morally perfect being .
The fact we humans have this idea is proof of the existence of this concept or else we wouldn’t have ever truly thought about it .
Also the moment you claim evil exists you also claim there’s an opposite or else evil wouldn’t make sense at all .
@@Happys_Art "The fact you can conceive of a morally perfect being is proof that god is a morally perfect being." That is as stupid as: "The fact that you can conceive of a magic pink unicorn is proof that there are magic pink unicorns. The fact we humans have this idea is proof of the existence of this concept or else we wouldn’t have ever truly thought about it." Yes, it really is THAT stupid.
"Also the moment you claim evil exists you also claim there’s an opposite or else evil wouldn’t make sense at all" OK. There are things that are not evil. But that does exactly zero to support your idea of a God nor does it support your god as anything; evil, not evil or even existing. I've seen poor arguments before for your favorite flavor of magic deity, but that one was embarrassingly poor. I could make the argument that any magic deity that creates a world that he has to destroy in a giant flood drowning innocent babies, puppies, baby birds, and koala bears is evil incarnate. What say you about that?
@@blaster-zy7xx Where do you ground this concept of good and evil? where does it come from? how do you know the details of babies and people around the globe that drowned?
@@izzomoses7994 "How do you know the details of babies and people around the globe that drowned?" Just to be clear, I don't beleive the biblical myth of Noah's Ark. I am pretty confident that entire story is a myth. BUT IF one believes the myths of the Bible, then it is difficult to escape that God drowned innocent children and babies during Noah's Flood.
Regarding “knowledge”, philosophically it’s “justified true belief.” Only science can justify (or falsify) claims on objective reality.
It seems to me that your claim about objective reality that "only science can justify (or falsify) claims on objective reality" is itself not justified by science and is therefore self defeating.
Barrett Warren , of course science can justify itself: it works. How does philosophy and religion justify its claims? If they could, there would be agreement within those epistemologies like science forms consensuses as gains knowledge about the objective truth. Understandrealitythroughscience.blogspot.com
_"Only science can justify (or falsify) claims on objective reality."_
LOL! That is not a scientific statement it is a philosophical statement! Therefore your opinion is epistemically irrelevant (by your own rules) AND WORSE, it is self-defeating!
Don't you get it? Your statement cannot be assessed in a laboratory through the method! It is a philosophical statement. So funny!
@@prime_time_youtube , you have no idea what science is or how it functions. So, now, please tell me what is better than science in understanding objective reality. Philosophy and Theology have NO agreement on any subject other than the realities of "properly basic" abstractions like logic and math. Once science has achieved significant knowledge on any subject, there is a consensus. See the difference?
@@86645ut *you have no idea what science is or how it functions*
LOL! Says the man that gave a self defeating PHILOSOPHICAL argument that argued that science is the only method that gives justification to claims on objective reality.
*Philosophy and Theology have NO agreement*
Another philosophical argument to debunk Philosophy!! HAHAHAHA, you are awesome!
*Once science has achieved significant knowledge on any subject, there is a consensus*
This is ANOTHER philosophical argument! WOW, just wow.
When he said he was going to venture beyond the physical world, for some reason I thought of The Great Space Coaster.
Great video!
however, from 15:55 to the conclusion at the end, almost everything was nonsensical, but the first part till that sounds legit to me except the case for ethics being a priori:
even in this example, one must have some experience of what pain is and empirical data that other humans (and other animals) have also the capacity to feel pain. Just in a bubble of philosophic and pure rational thinking one could never find out these two for instance. (these two are the presumptions of the argumentation and can only get validated empirically)
What if someone couldn't feel pain? for example if someone is in vegetative state?
Ethics is also a posteriori! without any confrontation to the outside world, any knowledge of good and bad seem to be impossible. and if so, there is another step: given that we (somehow) understood what is good and evil, why should we do the good and avoid the evil. as Hume pointed out, we can not logically derive "ought" from "is".
I enjoyed this until the theologians arrived. They had nothing at all to offer regarding truth except their platitudes, example: 18:50.
I would argue that nothing can be known until one knows God intimately and personally for oneself. What the ancient Greeks would never have known was that the Divine Logos would incarnate and become a Man in the person of Jesus Christ. I personally hold that Heraclitus, Pythagoras and Plato were symbolic of the Trinity.