1 Epistemology

    Cards (12)

      • 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.
    See similar decks