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Full Idea
The notice we have by our senses of the existing of things without us, thought it be no altogether so certain as our intuitive knowledge or the deductions of our reason, ..yet it is an assurance that deserves the name of knowledge.
Gist of Idea
Knowledge by senses is less certain than that by intuition or reason, but it is still knowledge
Source
John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694], 4.11.03)
Book Ref
Locke,John: 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', ed/tr. Nidditch,P.H. [OUP 1979], p.631
A Reaction
This is a clear instance of an acceptance of fallibilism. So one would hope, I think, from an orthodox empiricist philosopher, especially a representative realist like Locke, who as lots of areas where doubts can creep in.
12569 | Knowledge by senses is less certain than that by intuition or reason, but it is still knowledge [Locke] |
14768 | Infallibility in science is just a joke [Peirce] |
14770 | Reasoning is based on statistical induction, so it can't achieve certainty or precision [Peirce] |
19107 | Inquiry is not standing on bedrock facts, but standing in hope on a shifting bog [Peirce] |
22870 | No belief can be so settled that it is not subject to further inquiry [Dewey] |
17637 | The most obvious beliefs are not infallible, as other obvious beliefs may conflict [Russell] |
12897 | To say S knows P, but cannot eliminate not-P, sounds like a contradiction [Lewis] |
2755 | If senses are fallible, then being open to correction is an epistemological virtue [Dancy,J] |
6898 | Fallibilism is the view that all knowledge-claims are provisional [Mautner] |
19701 | Fallibilism is consistent with dogmatism or scepticism, and is not alternative to them [Dougherty] |
19700 | It is best to see the fallibility in the reasons, rather than in the agents or the knowledge [Dougherty] |
19702 | We can't normally say that we know something 'but it might be false' [Dougherty] |
19718 | Indefeasibility does not imply infallibility [Grundmann] |