Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    We can have no theoretical knowledge of the ultimate cons... — Carmelics
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Skepticism
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    We can have no theoretical knowledge of the ultimate constitution of reality as it is in itself, independent of our representations.

    SkepticismTruth & Knowledge
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.

    Sign in or register to share your perspective on this statement.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Something exists independently of our representations of it.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.We cannot determine whether, independent of appearances, material objects consist of substances and their attributes standing in spatio-temporal or causal relations.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.We cannot determine whether whatever we experience as an object is in the end some mental product of a divine mind with creative powers unlike any we can make sense of.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Science's predictive success and convergence toward unified theories constitute abductive evidence for the approximate truth of its structural claims about mind-independent reality.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If our representations were systematically disconnected from reality's constitution, the extraordinary precision of quantum electrodynamics and general relativity would be an inexplicable miracle.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Therefore, inference to the best explanation licenses at least structural theoretical knowledge of reality, contra the agnosticism the claim demands.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Russell and Ramsey's structural realism holds that while we cannot know the intrinsic nature of physical relata, we can have genuine knowledge of the formal relations that constitute reality's structure.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.The claim conflates knowledge of intrinsic categorical properties with knowledge of structural, relational features, treating the inaccessibility of the former as grounds for global theoretical agnosticism.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Since mathematics demonstrably describes these structural features independent of any particular observer's representations, theoretical knowledge of mind-independent reality in its relational constitution is achievable.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Topics

    SkepticismTruth & Knowledge

    Key Terms

    knowledge(Distinguished from mere true belief, which may be the product of indoctrination and need not exercise deliberative capacities.)
    Justified true belief — true belief that has been arrived at through the exercise of deliberative capacities, including comparison of and deliberation among alternatives.

    Connections

    1 topic

    Modality & Possibility3 linked

    Related

    If our representations were systematically disconnected from reality's constitut...Russell and Ramsey's structural realism holds that while we cannot know the intr...Science's predictive success and convergence toward unified theories constitute ...Since mathematics demonstrably describes these structural features independent o...
    +6 moreShow less
    Something exists independently of our representations of it.The claim conflates knowledge of intrinsic categorical properties with knowledge...

    Similar

    Therefore, there is no epistemological basis for claiming knowledge of...83%We cannot know anything about things in themselves other than the bare...82%We can know ultimate reality through direct, non-empirical insight int...77%Kant claims we cannot have knowledge of things in themselves77%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: idealism
    View source passageHide passage
    Kant can thus be seen to have made two major points about transcendental idealism. (1) Although he never questions the existence of something independent of our representations of it, he can claim to have shown that when it comes to the ultimate constitution of this reality as it may be considered independently of the way it appears to beings endowed with reason and (human) sensibility we can know nothing on theoretical grounds; on practical grounds, as we have seen, he insisted that we can rati
    Extraction notes

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

    Details

    Therefore we are bound to be agnostic with regard to any metaphysical theoretica...
    Therefore, inference to the best explanation licenses at least structural theore...
    We cannot determine whether whatever we experience as an object is in the end so...
    We cannot determine whether, independent of appearances, material objects consis...
    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit