This document discusses the philosophical concept of skepticism and questions of what can be known with certainty. It introduces the idea of skepticism through examples like whether a tree makes a sound if it falls alone in the forest. It prompts the reader to consider what is truly known and how knowledge and beliefs are justified. It references a story about a boy who loses trust in everything after learning the tooth fairy is not real, slipping into skepticism about what could be made up. The reader is tasked with researching the philosopher who famously addressed the problem of skepticism and how they attempted to solve it.

1. Logic
Knowledge
Ethics
Metaphysics

2. Is it really possible to
know anything with
absolute certainty?
Introduction
Consider this age old
classic philosophical
question

3. Does a tree make a sound if it falls in a
forest with no one around?
Discuss in your groups
Feedback your answers and give reasons
for your opinions
p48 PFK

4. The view that what is typically taken to be
true, self evident or knowledge, may, in
fact, be doubted, or refuted.

5. What do we really know in life?
What things are we certain about?
What do we know really exists in this
world?
How do we know it?
How do we justify our beliefs?

6.  When the boys discover there is no
tooth fairy Kyle goes into shock and
exclaims
 ‘That cant be. My parents would
never lie to me’
 Kyle confronts his father who admits
that the tooth fairy isn’t real. He
begins to distrust everything since his
parents may lie to him about anything
 Everything could ‘all be made up’
 He slips further and further into the
world of skepticism

7. Find out who the philosopher was who
famously tackled this problem
Find out how he attempted to solve the
problem of extreme skepticism
Next lesson you will present your research