Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Individual
Group Discount
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews October 5, 2023 September 28, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount
Qty: 00
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Outline Russell's fundamental distinction between knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description.
Our knowledge of things is attainable in two ways: knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description. Our knowledge by acquaintance entails an immediate awareness of our own sense-data. From this acquaintance, we are directly aware of a thing without any inference. Knowledge by acquaintance is logically independent of any knowledge of truths. Knowledge by description is predicated on something with which we are acquainted, sense-data, and some knowledge of truths, like knowing the description: "such-and-such sense-data are caused by the physical object." Thus, knowledge by description allows us to infer knowledge about things we have never experienced via things with which we have had direct acquaintance.
What is idealism and how does Russell respond to its epistemic implications?
Idealism is the philosophical view that "whatever exists, or at any rate, whatever can be known to exist, must be in some sense mental." Russell rejects idealism because he believes the arguments for idealism to be based on fallacious reasoning. The arch-idealist, Bishop Berkeley, refers to two different things using the same word, "idea." One is the thing of which we become aware and the other is the actual act of apprehension. While the latter act seems obviously mental, the former "thing" does not seem so at all. Russell holds that idealists mistake the object sense of "idea," with the apprehensive, mental sense. Instead, Russell advocates a theory of knowledge where things exist independently of our minds and are constituted in the physical world of matter.
Distinguish the universal from the particular. How does each fit into Russell's theory of knowledge?
Russell believes that objects in the physical world, like his famous table, are composed of matter. These are particulars. They exist in one place at any given time and exemplify universals. The universal is an ideal from which particulars derive their common essence. Universals include qualities, properties, and relations. A white sheet of paper is a particular that exemplifies the universal "whiteness," which is common to all white things. A particular may be known by way of our acquaintance with sense-data. We grasp universals through a process of induction from particulars.
Please wait while we process your payment