1. Which of the following are a priori beliefs, and which of the following are a posteriori?
* Vancouver is smaller than Montreal
* Four orcas and two humpbacks swimming together are six animals.
* Ottawa is between Montreal and Vancouver.
* If Vancouver is west of Ottawa, and Montreal is east of Ottawa, then Montreal is east of Vancouver.
* Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal are in Canada.
2. Kant came up with (what he thought) were some fixed beliefs common to all people. List three of them and come up with one of your own.
3. What does Quine think about Kant's synthetic a priori? Explain.
4. Explain the idea of 'web of beliefs'.
5. Which of the four statements below is/are a re-statement of Kant's views, and which is/are a re-statement of Quine.1. There are beliefs which at any time are at the centre of belief of any person.
2. Given a person and a time, there must be beliefs which are not only at the centre of that person's beliefs but of any other person's too.
3. Given a person and a time, there must be beliefs which are at the centre of that person's web of belief at that time.
4. There are beliefs which are at the centre of any person's web of belief at a given time, and given a different time or a different person there are beliefs which are at the centre of the web for that person and that time too.
[Article]
[Index]