Kantian Constructivism
Kant's agenda–synthetic a priori
knowledge
Critique of Pure Reason
 rationalism
 empiricism
Kant’s Revolution
Copernican revolution: from
geocentric to heliocentric universe
Kantian revolution: from "knowledge
conforms to objects" to "objects
conform to knowledge"
Phenomena and noumena
Categories of the mind: space and
time
Categories of the
Understanding
Sensibility
Understanding
For Kant, categories of the mind
structure understanding
What is Reality Like?
Can't know reality because our
minds structure our experience of
reality
Universal forms and categories
govern this structuring
Structuring is a rational process
Relativism
Objectivism
Epistemological relativism
Degrees of relativism
Varieties of Relativism
Subjectivism
Cultural relativism
 Quine's "web of belief”
 Carlos Castaneda
Historical relativism
 Goodman
Existentialism: Kierkegaard
“Truth is subjectivity”
Knowing the truth versus being in
the truth
Was Kierkegaard a relativist?
Existentialism: Nieztsche
Radical perspectivism–roots in
philology
Romantic primitivism
Will to power
Beyond Good and Evil
Nietzsche asks:
 What secretly guides the thinking
of the philosopher?
 What stands behind all logic?
 What is more important than the
truth or falsity of a judgment?
Nietzsche and the Death of
Absolutes
 If there is no objective truth, then it
follows that there is no God– “God is
dead”
Nietzsche and relativism: living life
with a spirit of “experimentalism”
Pragmatism
American contribution to
philosophy

Peirce

James

Dewey
Varieties of Pragmatism
Peirce: theory of inquiry applied to
science
James: issues of psychology,
religion, and morality
Dewey: issues of society and
education
The Pragmatic Theory of
Meaning
Pragmatism
 not a dogma
 a method for clarifying
conceptions
The pragmatic theory of truth
 James: truth in terms of what
works or gives satisfaction
Pragmatism and Relativism
Peirce: an antirelativist
James: unclear on the issue of
relativism
Dewey: although no free-floating
absolutes, belief is not merely a
matter of subjective choice
Pragmatism’s Conception of
Truth
 True ideas are those we can
 assimilate
 validate
 corroborate
 verify
False ideas are those we cannot
Feminist Epistemology
What is feminism?
Emphasizes role of gender in
shaping thought and structuring
society
Focuses on forces excluding women
from full participation
Strives to produce society that
recognizes men and women as both
different and equal
Varieties of Feminism
Equity or liberal feminists
 focus on freedom and opportunity
Gender or radical feminists
 challenge fundamental structure of
society
 essentialists and nonessentialists
(nominalists)
Issues and Themes
Feminist epistemology critiques four
assumptions:
 The generic humanity assumption
 The view from nowhere
assumption
 The pure, impersonal reason
assumption
 The Robinson Crusoe assumption