TESTIMONY – A PHILOSOPHICAL STUDY

 

The epistemology of testimony is a rapidly developing area in contemporary analytic philosophy.

In the law, testimony is a form of evidence that is obtained from a witness who makes a solemn statement or declaration of fact.

The philosophy of testimony considers the nature of language and knowledge's confluence, which occurs when beliefs are transferred between speakers and hearers through testimony. In a modern society testimony thus broadly understood is one of the main sources of belief.

Why Testimony Is ?

Personal testimony is the foundation of our
faith.Testimony changes lives. It changes how you think and what you do. It changes what you say.When one receives a testimony of truth, it immediately begins to have impact on that person’s life. Sometimes you might give your testimony in a small group you’re leading. Sometimes you might share it with an individual in discipleship. Many times it’s good to have your testimony prepared for an opportunity that may come up in conversation
when you want to share your faith with someone: a friend when you’re out for coffee, someone at work, a relative during a holiday gathering.

The Epistemology of Testimony

Descriptive and the Normative

A description is just what you think it is: It describes a situation or what a philosopher might

call a state of affairs. For example, “The car is red,” “The river is flowing quickly,” “I’m sad that my

juicer is broken,” “Brutus killed Caesar.” A normative statement is a claim about how things

ought to be. For example, “Jazz is better than pop music,” “If you want to pass the exam you should

study,” “Killing an innocent person is wrong.” The point here is to see that there is a difference

between descriptive claims and normative claims. The question of whether normative judgments are

anything more than opinion is a question that philosophers debate and discuss. This distinction is

sometimes also referred to as the “is/ought” distinction or the “descriptive/prescriptive”

distinction.

Descriptive Local Question

How do human hearers typically form belief in response to testimony? In particular, do they just

trust their informant unthinkingly, blindly; or do they somehow (consciously, or sub-consciously)

evaluate the informant for trustworthiness, and believe what they are told only if the evaluation is

positive? (The process of testimony)

Normative Local Question

In what conditions, and with what controls, should a mature adult hearer believe what she is told, on

some particular occasion? (Fresh instances of testimony, for an adult hearer.).

Descriptive Global Question

What is the actual place of testimony-beliefs overall, in a person's structure of empirical belief?

What is the extent of dependence on testimony for grounding (epistemic dependence) of our beliefs?

And what is the relation between testimony and our other sources of empirical belief: perception,

memory, and deductive and inductive inference from empirical premisses? Otherthan these four

aesthetic also can be categorize as a branch of Philosophy.This is the branch of philosophy that

relate with the nature and appreciation of art,beauty and good taste.

Normative Global Question

How, if ever, can a system of beliefs with uneliminated epistemic dependence on testimony be justified?

Thank You !

Blog Written by : Sanindu Sandamal