Kim Woods: Philosophy 4

Directions: Please provide detailed and elaborate responses to the following questions.  Your response to each should be a minimum of one half of one page in length, except for #4, which requires an answer of at least one page in length, and should include examples from the reading assignments.

1.      Do you agree with Locke's view that we can have no ideas without first having sensory experiences?  Explain.

2.      Describe what you consider to be the fundamental epistemological difference between Hume and Berkeley.

3.      Do you agree with Hume that we cannot know whether our ideas about reality are accurate?  What assumption does Hume make when he makes this claim?

4.      In what way does Kant's account of knowledge combine elements of both rationalism and empiricism?  Do you believe that Kant is successful in overcoming Humean skepticism?  Explain your answer.

5.      Kant claims that true knowledge has its basis in experience.  At the same time, he states that true a priori knowledge is possible.  Is this a contradiction?  Why or why not?