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0denseSo code name Phil and I were talking DnD after being and knowing today, and not to be a Massive nerd, but my current character is largely inspired by cartesian doubt; I'm trying to poke at idealism in context René never ever meant. Or show me the metaphysics of arcadia, man, let me at the wyrd, let's see how this place is held up, what can it tell me and how can I carry out my intentions under its terms!!!
anyway, so the last few lectures in epistemology have been on the Gettier cases, and I was having fun trying to decide how my char would possibly integrate JTBs and this shenanigans into their cognitive structure
So! Let's start with Knowledge as being Justified True Beliefs. That's the standby, the starting line, we're gonna take it.
Enter Russell and Gettier, poking holes in each factor. Can you have knowledge from things that are justified but not true? True but not justified? Can belief contribute on its own grounds? the Gettier cases as thought-experiments all end up going something along the lines of:
Buckinghamshire has a grandfather clock that is so reliable and accurate, that all the other devices in the house are set by it. One evening, at 8:43pm, he notices the time, and follows his evening rituals accordingly. Nothing else is amiss, but the clock has frozen at that second. The next morning, as he has breakfast, he takes note of the time, and continues his day's plans accordingly. Now, it just so happens that it is in fact 8:43am at that moment, and so his assumption that the clock is correctly telling him the time has not provided him with anything false. However, because the clock was not in fact working, while the assumption is true and he believes it utterly, it is not properly justified by his materials on hand. Therefore, he cannot be said to have knowledge in the sense of a complete JTB.
Or, Joe is on a walk through farm country. He's forgotten his glasses, but it's still a nice clear day, so that's alright. On a hill, he sees a white spot, and assumes that this is a sheep. If he had brought his glasses, he would see that it is really a painted boulder. In fact, his neighbor's sheep are hanging out hiding from his gaze in the shade of a tree a few degrees away from the boulder. So, he is not technically incorrect in claiming that there are sheep on the hill, but his knowledge does not have sufficient basis.
And so on.
A step in the conversation following Gettier and Russel is then, what is justification at all? To which there is the New Evil Demon world
see where I'm getting back to descartes??
In the Evil Demon's world, all of our rational faculties are intact in the same manner as the real world. The manner in which we reach conclusions is the exact same, but the objective materials around us are wildly different. My desk is a fish. But if it is presented to us in a sufficiently convincing manner, we think through and conclude that everything is as it should be. Nothing is true, but one can absolutely come to justified beliefs.
Can that be good enough?
Well, so. My character, Ignis/Aloisio/Loi, is a fireheart, a fire elemental, who was so thoroughly transfigured into flame itself that they forgot they were a person. They came back to conciousness by walking through Descartes and Campanella - I doubt, I think, I exist, I delight in this existence. And then, in order to reach the point of escape; I have a position relative to the world. My position is not equal to my Keeper. My Keeper and I are both concious beings, so we should not have this disparity. This is not right, and I refuse to continue to submit.
pretty basic, but they need the steps, the progression, to see how each flows into the next. They thought themselves awake, and I wrote this char but I'm still so proud of them lol.
They're a rationalist! and they came to these solid conclusions while existing as nothing human at all. In a place where people walked through walls and the progression of time was a matter for debate. Try establishing any foundations, when the lord who rules your entire being is making a puppet of you!
Then does this mean that none of their conclusions would be able to qualify as knowledge, then?? Well, not really, they're the same mind regardless of plane of existence, and the conclusions were made largely independent of external stimuli. But how would they feel about this?? Would it make them question how much of their self-knowledge is legitimate, and how much of it was attained under false conditions. Can you establish statements with positive truth-value while in a world without objective measures at all, they would wonder.
And if they start second-guessing their own autonomy, that could be very, very unfortunate. :D!
also, unrelated to the above, a list of good things recently, bc I'm not About being down:
anyway, so the last few lectures in epistemology have been on the Gettier cases, and I was having fun trying to decide how my char would possibly integrate JTBs and this shenanigans into their cognitive structure
So! Let's start with Knowledge as being Justified True Beliefs. That's the standby, the starting line, we're gonna take it.
Enter Russell and Gettier, poking holes in each factor. Can you have knowledge from things that are justified but not true? True but not justified? Can belief contribute on its own grounds? the Gettier cases as thought-experiments all end up going something along the lines of:
Buckinghamshire has a grandfather clock that is so reliable and accurate, that all the other devices in the house are set by it. One evening, at 8:43pm, he notices the time, and follows his evening rituals accordingly. Nothing else is amiss, but the clock has frozen at that second. The next morning, as he has breakfast, he takes note of the time, and continues his day's plans accordingly. Now, it just so happens that it is in fact 8:43am at that moment, and so his assumption that the clock is correctly telling him the time has not provided him with anything false. However, because the clock was not in fact working, while the assumption is true and he believes it utterly, it is not properly justified by his materials on hand. Therefore, he cannot be said to have knowledge in the sense of a complete JTB.
Or, Joe is on a walk through farm country. He's forgotten his glasses, but it's still a nice clear day, so that's alright. On a hill, he sees a white spot, and assumes that this is a sheep. If he had brought his glasses, he would see that it is really a painted boulder. In fact, his neighbor's sheep are hanging out hiding from his gaze in the shade of a tree a few degrees away from the boulder. So, he is not technically incorrect in claiming that there are sheep on the hill, but his knowledge does not have sufficient basis.
And so on.
A step in the conversation following Gettier and Russel is then, what is justification at all? To which there is the New Evil Demon world
see where I'm getting back to descartes??
In the Evil Demon's world, all of our rational faculties are intact in the same manner as the real world. The manner in which we reach conclusions is the exact same, but the objective materials around us are wildly different. My desk is a fish. But if it is presented to us in a sufficiently convincing manner, we think through and conclude that everything is as it should be. Nothing is true, but one can absolutely come to justified beliefs.
Can that be good enough?
Well, so. My character, Ignis/Aloisio/Loi, is a fireheart, a fire elemental, who was so thoroughly transfigured into flame itself that they forgot they were a person. They came back to conciousness by walking through Descartes and Campanella - I doubt, I think, I exist, I delight in this existence. And then, in order to reach the point of escape; I have a position relative to the world. My position is not equal to my Keeper. My Keeper and I are both concious beings, so we should not have this disparity. This is not right, and I refuse to continue to submit.
pretty basic, but they need the steps, the progression, to see how each flows into the next. They thought themselves awake, and I wrote this char but I'm still so proud of them lol.
They're a rationalist! and they came to these solid conclusions while existing as nothing human at all. In a place where people walked through walls and the progression of time was a matter for debate. Try establishing any foundations, when the lord who rules your entire being is making a puppet of you!
Then does this mean that none of their conclusions would be able to qualify as knowledge, then?? Well, not really, they're the same mind regardless of plane of existence, and the conclusions were made largely independent of external stimuli. But how would they feel about this?? Would it make them question how much of their self-knowledge is legitimate, and how much of it was attained under false conditions. Can you establish statements with positive truth-value while in a world without objective measures at all, they would wonder.
And if they start second-guessing their own autonomy, that could be very, very unfortunate. :D!
also, unrelated to the above, a list of good things recently, bc I'm not About being down:
- the campus farmer's market has a stall that sells these really awesome chicken adobo bao, and another stall that has great ginger-hibiscus iced tea, so even though I've got about six straight hours of class, thursdays always get a fun lunch
- they don't call them bao but it's bao, I know what I'm seeing
- also today sister brought me a dang good taro boba from a new place, hella
- am I food-motivated? probably, sure, you bet
- the latest scene in my vaguely serious YJ and JR fic is looking decent; I'll keep giving it side-eye for a bit, but it's certainly looking better than I thought it would run
- came to Opinions on Camus
- tl;dr: for a guy who hated nihilism, I feel very strongly about him the same way I do for Nietzsche
- got good paper topic feedback from a handful of grad classmates, even from code name cousin, who spent an hour drawing bauhaus rectangles in ms paint and surfacing with great comments out of nowhere, it was really funny
- went and got vietnamese food with the grad classmates, took the scenic route back to campus to skip traffic and ended up looking right down at the ocean while everyone tried not to spill pho and drinks on each other, three of us crammed in the back, while also all contributing percussion to our driver's preferred techno/electronica, all with the sunset rolling in over the water and spilling through the windows
- was not late to seminar, despite it all
- went to the apothecary downtown and got stuff for a new tea
- I will say the first try has not been evenly balanced, I did not expect the viburnum to be so distinctive lol
- just got walk through such a beautiful day
- Soon, Easter
