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    Problematic idealism — the view that the existence of obj... — Carmelics
    Home/Skepticism
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Problematic idealism — the view that the existence of objects outside us in space is doubtful and indemonstrable — is false.

    Perception
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    2 reasons for
    1 reason against

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    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.The immediate objects of outer sense are spatial appearances whose existence is given with the act of sensory intuition itself, not inferred from it.
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    • 2.Kant's Refutation of Idealism shows that inner experience (consciousness of my own existence as determined in time) is only possible through outer experience of persistent spatial objects.
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    • 3.Therefore, any skeptical doubt about outer objects that presupposes the coherence of inner experience is self-undermining, since inner experience is constitutively dependent on outer experience.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
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    • 1.G.E. Moore's proof from ordinary language demonstrates that the existence of hands — paradigm external objects — is known with greater certainty than any philosophical premise used to doubt them.
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    • 2.A skeptical argument whose conclusion is less certain than the common-sense propositions it seeks to overturn fails as a demonstration, since the denial of the conclusion is epistemically stronger than any premise in the argument.
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    • 3.Wittgenstein's hinge epistemology reinforces this: doubt about external objects is not a coherent epistemic position but a performative contradiction, as doubting itself presupposes a shared external framework of practices and referents.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.My awareness of the determinate temporal order of my past experiences requires a reference point outside of me in space.
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    • 2.If such a reference point is required by something I actually possess (determinate temporal awareness), then the existence of external objects is not merely doubtful but demonstrable.
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    • 3.I do possess awareness of the determinate temporal order of my past experiences.
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    Topics

    SkepticismPerception

    Connections

    2 topics

    Consciousness & Mind2 linkedModality & Possibility1 linked

    Related

    A skeptical argument whose conclusion is less certain than the common-sense prop...G.E. Moore's proof from ordinary language demonstrates that the existence of han...I do possess awareness of the determinate temporal order of my past experiences.If such a reference point is required by something I actually possess (determina...
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    Kant's Refutation of Idealism shows that inner experience (consciousness of my o...My awareness of the determinate temporal order of my past experiences requires a...The immediate objects of outer sense are spatial appearances whose existence is ...

    Similar

    Kant's target in the Refutation is idealism defined as the claim that ...88%Transcendental idealism does not deny the reality of objects in space ...85%Kant's idealism posits a world 'in itself' that is essentially inacces...83%Berkeleyan idealism denies that there is a mind-independent objective ...82%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: kant-transcendental
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    In the transcendental argument of the Refutation of Idealism, Kant’s target is not Humean skepticism about the applicability of a priori concepts, but rather Cartesian skepticism about the external world. This argument was added by Kant to the second edition of the Critique of Pure Reason (B274–279, with a change suggested in the Preface to B, Bxxxix–Bxli), and subsequently embellished and reworked in a series of Reflections (Guyer 1987: 279–316). More specifically, Kant intends to refute what h
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Therefore, any skeptical doubt about outer objects that presupposes the coherenc...
    Wittgenstein's hinge epistemology reinforces this: doubt about external objects ...
    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (2 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit