Problem of the criterion
The problem of the criterion is an issue in epistemology about the starting point of knowledge. It is considered a separate but more fundamental issue than the regress[1] argument found in discussions on proving that some knowledge is true.[2]
History
Classical antiquity
In Western philosophy, the earliest surviving document of the problem of the criterion was written by Pyrrhonist philosopher Sextus Empiricus (b. 2nd century AD).[2] In the Outlines of Pyrrhonism, Sextus Empiricus showed that there had been no criterion of truth, contrary to the position of dogmatists, such as the Stoics well-known for their doctrine of katalepsis.[3][4]
Modern period
American philosopher Roderick Chisholm detailed the problem of the criterion with two sets of questions in the Theory of Knowledge:
- What do we know? or What is the extent of our knowledge?
- How do we know? or What is the criterion for deciding whether we have knowledge in any particular case?
Related pages
References
- ↑ A series of statements in which a logical procedure is continually reapplied to its own result without approaching a useful conclusion (e.g. defining something in terms of itself). Oxford Languages.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Problem of the criterion.
- ↑ Sextus Empiricus Outlines of Pyrrhonism Book II Chapters 4–9.
- ↑ Beckwith, Christopher I.. Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia (2015)Princeton University Press. p. 22–23. ISBN 9781400866328.