Principle of epistemic closure:
Principle that, where P and Q are propositions, if we know that P, and know that P logically entails Q, we know that Q.
Sometimes said to support skepticism, because if I know that, for example, I am holding a pen, and know that if I am holding a pen I am not merely dreaming that I am doing so, then (by the principle) I know that I am not merely dreaming this: but, it is alleged, I cannot know that I am not dreaming because even if I were, things would still appear just as they do.
Therefore, I cannot know that I am really holding a pen.
Also see the theory of relative alternatives which has been used to answer this.
Source:
J Dancy, An Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology (1985)
Table of Contents
- fallibilism
- relevant alternatives theory
- verifiability (or verification) principle
- double negation principle
- indifference principle
Videos
Knowing and Checking: An Epistemological Investigation (Routledge Studies in Epistemology)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Melchior, Guido (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 286 Pages - 04/29/2019 (Publication Date) - Routledge (Publisher)
Interdisciplinary Works in Logic, Epistemology, Psychology and Linguistics: Dialogue, Rationality, and Formalism (Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning Book 3)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- English (Publication Language)
- 381 Pages - 06/30/2014 (Publication Date) - Springer (Publisher)
Last update 2020-06-17. Price and product availability may change.