Make Entry -- Become an Editor -- Most Popular: (10, 25, 50, 75, 100)

   Help

Epistemology

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that investigates the nature of knowledge. Many philosophers consider epistemology to be central to the philosophic enterprise: what is the end result of all our thinking?

What is knowledge? What justifies our having "knowledge" about something? Where does knowledge come from? What are we capable of knowing? What are the limits of knowledge? These are the questions of epistemology.

The standard definition of knowledge is "justified true belief." In other words, knowledge is a belief that is both true and justified. The tough job (and the part that has received a great deal of attention over the last century from various philosophers) is nailing down exactly what it means for a belief to be justified.

Another major question in epistemology is "where do we get our knowledge from?" The two major positions on this issue have been rationalism and empiricism. Rationalism contends that most knowledge is arrived at through intuition and reason, sometimes aided by experience. Some of this knowledge is knowable a priori. On the other hand, empiricism is a position which asserts that knowledge is principally acquired via sense perception.

Site Maps: Most Recent | Clusters | Browse
New: Graduate Student Job Opportunity