Short Questions:

1. John Locke said, “There is nothing in the intellect which was not previously in the senses” He
said that because Locke was against the theory of criticism of Innate Ideas. According to Locke,
we can see light by our eyes, hear sound by our ears. These are all derived from sense-
experience. Therefore it is needless to call them innate. Locke fully succeeds in proving that no
explicit idea can exist in the mind from birth. That’s why he said that.

2. The "ghost in the machine" is British philosopher Gilbert Ryle's description of Rene Descarte’s
“mind-body” dualism which means the consciousness or mind carried in a physical entity. Ryle
gave explanation and concept against Descartes and others that mental and physical activity
occurs simultaneously but separately. He believed that human consciousness and mind are very
dependent on the human brain. He called it philosopher’s myth because he thinks that the
concept of Descarte represents the facts of mental life as one logical type, when they actually
belong to another.
3. Formal truth is the elaboration of concepts, meanings, or implications that is independent or
nonexistence. On the other hand, material truth is when a concept of judgment has logic and
facts and can be proved. It is consistent with the facts. Formal truth is called validity and
material truth is called simply truth.
4. John Locke did not believe in innate ideas, those which you are essentially born with. Instead he
said that our mind is blank. He said that Experiences gained through senses fulfills our mind.
Locke also showed logics to prove his theory of representative realism. He said that the mind
represents the external world, but does not duplicate it. He believed that instead of actually
experiencing the world first hand we indirectly experience it through representations. His
explanation has logic and makes more sense that’s why Locke is considered as an advocate of
representative realism.
5. During the debate between rationalism and empiricism represented by philosophers like Rene
Descartes (rationalism) and John Locke (empiricism), Kant reconcile between rationalism and
empiricism. by introducing the concept of objective validity. Kant said that we can not use our
reasoning on something which has not been given to us empirically. If we use our reasoning on
an imagined concept then the knowledge generated will be abstract. thus Kant's view was,
knowledge can come from reasoning as long as the reasoning is applied on something we have
experienced.

Broad Question:

1. Truth is one of the central problems of epistemology. Truth is beliefs and assertions. There are
different kind of theories of truth. They are explained below:
 The Test of Authority: Truth of authority believed to be come from a valid and reliable
reference. A judgment is believed to be true if it come directly from authority or is consistent
with those who already accepted the truth that came from the authority. An authority might be
parents, teachers or any other superiors. It is highly noticed and believed in religions.

The Test of Correspondence: A judgment is believed to be true if it has reconciled or consistent

with facts or with the reality. Examples are Man is immortal, sun rises in the east etc. It actually
supports the reality and it has facts based on what it can be proved. Empiricists support this
theory. Aristotle and Russell are the advocates of this test.

The Test of Self-evidence or Obviousness: According to this test or theory, a judgment is true if
it is apparent, self-evident or obvious. There is no necessity of a reference or reliable facts.
“Nothing can be both black and not black.” And “Apart is always less than the whole.” Are some
examples of this test. Descartes and Leibniz are the advocates of this test.

The test of Coherence or Consistency: In this theory a judgment is true if it coheres or is

consistent with a judgment which has already been proved to be true. It is supported by the
rationalists. An examples is, Air is essential to life, The moon is without air. So, the moon is
without living beings.

The Pragmatic Test of Truth: According to this theory, Truth means utility and workability. It is
believed that no true is false or true. It is therefore becomes true by the process of verification.
Ideas are instruments of action, and become true or false according to satisfaction and
dissatisfaction of the purpose in hand. William James, John Dewey and C.S Pierce are the
advocates.

In my opinion, The pragmatic test of truth is more satisfactory to me because it is valid and
shows good logic to have faith in. The test is all about verifying the facts and thus anyone can
test a fact and see by himself if its true or not. It makes more sense than the other theories.

2. A value is a standard and also a mind, as an object of desire. There are different kind of values.
They are:
Physical Value: Physical value is our biological needs and interests. Examples are, food, home,
sex, wealth etc.
Spiritual Value: Spiritual value is related to our mind or spiritual interests like truth, kindness,
beautiful, good manners etc. Truth is called logical value because it is concerned with our logical
or cognitive interests.
Intrinsic Value: The concept of intrinsic value has been characterized above in terms of the
value that something has “in itself,” or “for its own sake,” Example: happiness, truth, beauty,
goodness are usually are intrinsic value. its value is independent and it possesses values in the
absence of valuing agents. X is valuable if it’s higher or lower value. Higher alues related to our
mental or spiritual aspect and Lower values are related to our physical aspect.
Organic value: Organic values are those values which are related to our bodily, economic and
recreational satisfactions.
Hyper organic value: related to intellectual, aesthetic and religious values.
Inclusive value: inclusive which can be shared by many and are rather enhanced thereby. A
good humor or the beauty of good singing.
Exclusive value: Cannot be shared by others. For example, one’s wealth.

Values are both subjective and objective: Samuel Alexander is the representative of this
position. According to him, values are both subjective and objective. A thing is good or beautiful
both because it is of a certain nature and because it satisfies a person. According to the
objective view, the value-judgments are analogous to descriptive judgments of fact. They
describe real qualities of things. According to the subjective view, value judgments are purely
evaluative. But according to the synthetic view, they are both descriptive and evaluative.