The ancient Pyrrhonist is an extreme skeptic who suspends judgment from all theories because all philosophical beliefs or doctrines cannot be conclusively justified. The attempt to justify judgements leads to an infinite regress.

The Pyrrhonist will not give in to demands of believing in a theory even if they are 'certified' as truth. He will act according to his natural instincts and the practice of ordinary life, he will abstain from attempting to discover a deeper truth behind appearances.

So what is there to gain from suspending judgement? Tranquility. However, his suspension of judgement is not just making a cautious and deliberate decision, it’s from the realisation that looking for deeper truths is fruitless… knowledge is impossible. No matter the theory or conclusion, the skeptic can always ask “well, is that really so?”

Tags: Ancient, Epistemology

A man sits in a room with a set of instructions on how to reply to Chinese characters. In his room he receives Chinese characters from a slot on one side of the room. He examines the characters, checks his instructions on how to respond and writes his response down. He then delivers the response into a slot on the other side of the room. Those reading the response on the other side, believe that whatever produced this, clearly understands Chinese.

So does the man in the room understand Chinese? John Searle says no. This thought experiment is an analogy on how computers work and it is ultimately demonstrating that a computer appears to understand language but cannot produce real understanding.

Tags: Identity, Epistemology, Mind

Suppose a man is carried, whilst fast asleep, into a room where there is a person he longs to see and speak with. He is locked in this room and cannot get out. He wakes up to find himself in good company and stays willingly. Is his stay Voluntary?

Points to consider

• Is voluntary action evidence of freedom?
• Staying is voluntary but it is not free?
• Freedom and will are separate: will is the capacity to think of various actions and choose whichever is preferable. Freedom is the capacity to actually do as one wills

Tags: Free Will, Metaphysics

Ockham's Razor is the principle that we should favour the simpler ideas over the more complicated ones. This is not to say, go for the simple idea but instead opt for the simplest idea possible, considering the circumstances. Ockham believed academic philosophical theories became unnecessarily complex, especially when talking about imaginary entities. We should instead seek to shave away unnecessary assumptions when trying to come up with a theory: we should not " multiply entities beyond necessity," or to re-phrase,“It is useless to do with more what can be done with less”.

Tags: Epistemology, Logic

William of Ockham (1287-1347) was a medieval philosopher, a Franciscian Christian and an advocate of Nominalism. Nominalism is the view that there is no such thing as universals and that they only exist in the mind. When we speak of universals, they are merely names (from latin: nomina meaning names). So what are universals? Universals are general concepts or characteristics shared by multiple instances or particulars. Ockham says there is no such thing as universals, there’s no evidence and the concept of universals is incoherent to begin with.

Tags: Metaphysics, Epistemology