1 Epistemology

• • Branch of philosophy that studies knowledge, also known as theory of knowledge and aims to understand
  • what knowledge is
  • how it arises
  • what its limits are
  • what value it has.
• • Further examines the nature of truth, belief, justification, and rationality.
• • Some of the questions addressed by epistemologists include:
  • "By what method(s) can one acquire knowledge?"
  • "How is truth established?"
  • "Can we prove causal relations?”
• • Primarily interested in declarative knowledge or knowledge of facts.
• • Also investigates:
  • practical knowledge
  • such as knowing how to ride a bicycle
  • knowledge by acquaintance
  • for example, knowing a celebrity personally.
• • One area in epistemology is the analysis of knowledge.
  • Assumes that declarative knowledge is a combination of different parts and attempts to identify what those parts are.
  • An influential theory in this area claims that knowledge has three components:
  • it is a belief
  • that is justified
  • and true.
  • This theory is controversial and the difficulties associated with it are known as the Gettier problem.
• • Alternative views state:
  • that knowledge requires additional components, like the absence of luck.
  • Different components, like the manifestation of cognitive virtues instead of justification.
  • Or deny that knowledge can be analyzed in terms of other phenomena
• • Another area in epistemology asks how people acquire knowledge.
  • Often-discussed sources of knowledge are:
  • perception
  • introspection
  • memory
  • inference
  • testimony
• • According to empiricists:
  • all knowledge is based on some form of experience.
  • Rationalists:
  • Rationalists reject this view and hold that some forms of knowledge, like innate knowledge, are not acquired through experience.
• • The regress problem is a common issue in relation to the sources of knowledge and the justification they offer.
  • It is based on the idea that beliefs require some kind of reason or evidence to be justified.
  • The problem is that the source of justification may itself be in need of another source of justification.
  • This leads to an infinite regress or circular reasoning
• • Foundationalists avoid need to justify justifications, or circular reasoning, by arguing that some sources can provide justification without requiring justification themselves
  • Another solution is presented by coherentists, who state that a belief is justified if it coheres with other beliefs of the person.
• • Many discussions in epistemology touch on the topic of philosophical skepticism, which raises doubts about some or all claims to knowledge.
  • These doubts are often based on the idea that knowledge requires absolute certainty and that humans are unable to acquire it.