| Front | Back | | --- | --- | | What is the primary goal of conceptual analysis, and how does it use counterexamples? | To clarify meaning by identifying necessary and sufficient conditions for a concept. Counterexamples are real or imagined cases used to test and disprove proposed definitions. | | What classic definition of knowledge did Edmund Gettier challenge in 1963, and what did his counterexamples show? | He challenged the definition of knowledge as justified true belief (JTB), showing that a person can have a justified true belief without actually having knowledge. | | What is the purpose of Bertrand Russell's theory of descriptions? | To uncover the hidden logical form of ordinary sentences, showing they make multiple logical claims rather than just describing a single subject. | | How does Ludwig Wittgenstein's concept of 'family resemblances' challenge traditional conceptual analysis? | It argues that most concepts do not have neat necessary and sufficient conditions, but instead share overlapping, criss-crossing similarities. | | What everyday concept does Wittgenstein use to illustrate 'family resemblances,' and why does it resist precise definition? | The concept of a game. Some games involve competition, some skill, and some fun, but there is no single common essence shared by all of them. | | What did Weinberg, Nichols, and Stich (2001) find regarding Gettier-style cases, and how does this challenge traditional 'armchair' philosophy? | They found that East Asian participants were significantly more likely to attribute knowledge in Gettier cases than Western participants, suggesting philosophical intuitions are culturally specific rather than universal. | | What is the Socratic method of elenchus, and what is its typical outcome? | It is systematic cross-examination through questioning to expose contradictions in beliefs, typically resulting in aporia (a productive state of acknowledged ignorance). | | How does Immanuel Kant's 'critical philosophy' differ from building a traditional metaphysical system? | Instead of building sweeping theories about ultimate reality, it systematically examines the conditions and limits of reason itself. | | What is Horkheimer and Adorno's critique of 'instrumental reason' in the Dialectic of Enlightenment? | They argue that treating everything (including people) purely as a tool to achieve goals produces new forms of domination when left unchecked. | | What is the core claim of feminist standpoint theory regarding marginalized perspectives? | People in marginalized positions often have a clearer view of how power works because they experience its effects from the outside. | | How does the Buddhist practice of vipassana function as a critical philosophical methodology? | It uses systematic, disciplined first-person observation of mental states to directly examine experience and reveal impermanence, suffering, and non-self. | | Why does W.V.O. Quine reject the analytic/synthetic distinction, and what does he propose instead? | He argues no truth is completely immune to revision; instead, our knowledge forms a 'web of belief' where any claim can be altered if experience demands it. | | What is the consequence of Quine's naturalism for traditional philosophical methodology? | Philosophy has no special a priori method (pure reasoning independent of experience) and is continuous with empirical science. | | What is the primary argument for 'philosophical autonomy' against Quine's naturalism? | Philosophy addresses conceptual and normative questions (what things mean and what we ought to value) that empirical science cannot settle. | | What does Hans-Georg Gadamer mean by a 'fusion of horizons' in hermeneutics? | The meeting and reshaping of two distinct historical vantage points (the text's historical context and the reader's modern perspective). | | Contrast William James's and Richard Rorty's pragmatist views on the nature of truth and ideas. |

James: Truth is 'what works' (helps us navigate experience successfully).
Rorty: Promotes anti-representationalism, viewing philosophy as an ongoing conversation rather than a mirror of reality.

| | Compare Edmund Husserl's 'transcendental phenomenology' with Martin Heidegger's 'hermeneutic phenomenology.' |

Husserl: Aims to set aside assumptions to describe the essential structures of consciousness.
Heidegger: Argues we cannot step outside our cultural and historical context; all understanding is interpretive.

| | What does Maurice Merleau-Ponty's example of the 'phantom limb' demonstrate about perception? | Perception is an embodied capacity of the physical body, not just a passive mental act. | | Conceptual analysis is a philosophical method that seeks to clarify meaning by identifying necessary and sufficient conditions for a concept's application. | Conceptual analysis is a philosophical method that seeks to clarify meaning by identifying necessary and sufficient conditions for a concept's application. | | The Socratic method of systematic cross-examination is called the elenchus, which typically results in a state of acknowledged ignorance known as aporia. | The Socratic method of systematic cross-examination is called the elenchus, which typically results in a state of acknowledged ignorance known as aporia. | | W.V.O. Quine mounted an attack on traditional philosophical methodology by rejecting the analytic/synthetic distinction and proposing the web of belief. | W.V.O. Quine mounted an attack on traditional philosophical methodology by rejecting the analytic/synthetic distinction and proposing the web of belief. | | Experimental philosophy (or x-phi) uses empirical surveys to test whether the intuitions that underpin philosophical arguments are universal or culturally specific. | Experimental philosophy (or x-phi) uses empirical surveys to test whether the intuitions that underpin philosophical arguments are universal or culturally specific. |

1. Being human6 subtopics

2. Aesthetics3 subtopics

3. Epistemology3 subtopics

4. Ethics3 subtopics

5. Philosophy of religion3 subtopics

6. Philosophy of science3 subtopics

7. Political philosophy3 subtopics

8. Social philosophy3 subtopics

9. HL extension: Philosophy and contemporary issues3 subtopics

10. Prescribed philosophical texts12 subtopics

IB Philosophy 9.3.3 Philosophical Methodology Flashcards