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QLDPhilosophy and ReasonQuick questions
Unit 4: Moral philosophy and metaphysics
Quick questions on Scepticism and the external world: QCE Philosophy and Reason
6short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is descartes's method of doubt?Show answer
Rene Descartes, in the Meditations (1641), set out to find an indubitable foundation for knowledge by doubting everything that could possibly be false. His sceptical arguments escalate:
What is the brain in a vat?Show answer
The modern version: you might be a disembodied brain in a vat, fed exactly the experiences you now have by a computer. Since the experience would be indistinguishable from real life, how can you know you are not such a brain? If you cannot rule it out, the sceptic says, you cannot know you have hands or that the external world exists. This is a vivid form of global external-world scepticism.
What are responses?Show answer
No response is universally agreed to defeat scepticism, but each shows how high a standard the sceptic is demanding and whether knowledge really requires it.
What is q1?Show answer
Distinguish global from local scepticism. [2 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Reconstruct Descartes's evil-demon argument. [4 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Explain the contextualist response to scepticism. [3 marks]
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