Certainty The following article provides an overview of the philosophical debate surrounding certainty. It does so in light of distinctions that can be drawn between objective, psychological, and epistemic certainty. Certainty consists of a valuable cognitive standing, which is often seen as an ideal. It is indeed natural to evaluate lesser cognitive standings, in particular beliefs and opinions, in light of one’s intuitions regarding what

Tyler Burge (1946—) Tyler Burge is an American philosopher who has done influential work in several areas of philosophy. These include philosophy of language, Logik, Philosophie des Geistes, Erkenntnistheorie, Philosophie der Wissenschaft (primarily philosophy of psychology), and history of philosophy (focusing especially on Frege, but also on the classical rationalists—Descartes, Leibniz, und Kant). Burge has also done some work in psychology itself. Burge is best

Causal Role Theories of Functional Explanation Functional explanations are a type of explanation offered in the natural and social sciences. In giving these explanations, researchers appeal to the functions that a structure or system has. Zum Beispiel, a biologist might say, “The kidney has the function of eliminating waste products from the bloodstream.” Or a sociologist might say, “The purpose of monogamy is to preserve the

Thales of Miletus (c. 620 B.C.E.—c. 546 B.C.E.) The ancient Greek philosopher Thales was born in Miletus in Greek Ionia. Aristoteles, the major source for Thales’s philosophy and science, identified Thales as the first person to investigate the basic principles, the question of the originating substances of matter and, deshalb, as the founder of the school of natural philosophy. Thales was interested in almost everything,

Natural Theology Natural theology is a program of inquiry into the existence and attributes of God without referring or appealing to any divine revelation. In natural theology, one asks what the word “God” means, whether and how names can be applied to God, whether God exists, whether God knows the future free choices of creatures, und so weiter. The aim is to answer those questions