Outline of epistemology

See also: Index of epistemology articles

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to epistemology:

Epistemology or theory of knowledge – branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. The term was introduced into English by the Scottish philosopher James Frederick Ferrier (1808–1864). Epistemology asks the questions: "What is knowledge?", "How is knowledge acquired?", and "What do people know?"

Core topics of epistemology

Main article: Epistemology

• Knowledge
  • Gettier problem
  • Sources of knowledge
    • Perception
    • Memory
    • Introspection
    • Inference
    • Testimony
  • Types of knowledge
    • Descriptive knowledge - "Knowledge that"
    • Procedural knowledge - "Knowledge how"
    • Knowledge by acquaintance
  • A priori and a posteriori
  • Analytic-synthetic distinction
  • Internalism and externalism
• Justification
  • Foundationalism – Self-evident basic beliefs justify other non-basic beliefs.
  • Coherentism – Beliefs are justified if they cohere with other beliefs a person holds, each belief is justified if it coheres with the overall system of beliefs.
  • Infinitism
  • Regress argument
• Truth
  • Criteria of truth
• Belief
• Empiricism
• Rationalism
• Skepticism
• Contextualism
• Fallibilism
• Innatism
• Naïve realism
• Phenomenalism
• Positivism
• Reductionism
• Reliabilism

Branches of epistemology

Main article: Epistemology § Schools of thought in epistemology

• Formal epistemology – subdiscipline of epistemology that uses formal methods from logic, probability theory and computability theory to elucidate traditional epistemic problems.
• Meta-epistemology – metaphilosophical study of the subject, matter, methods and aims of epistemology and of approaches to understanding and structuring our knowledge of knowledge itself.
• Social epistemology – the study of collective knowledge and the social dimensions of knowledge
• Naturalized epistemology

See also

• Outline of philosophy

External links

• What Is Epistemology? – a brief introduction to the topic by Keith DeRose.
• The Epistemological Lifeboat by Birger Hjørland & Jeppe Nicolaisen (eds.)
• Epistemology Papers – a collection of Michael Huemer's papers.
• Teaching Theory of Knowledge (1986) – Marjorie Clay (ed.), an electronic publication from The Council for Philosophical Studies.
• Epistemology: The Philosophy of Knowledge – an introduction at Groovyweb.
• The Peripatetic – A practical introduction to the theory of knowledge
• A Theory of Knowledge by Clóvis Juarez Kemmerich, on the Social Science Research Network, 2006.
• On a Critical Epistemology
• Language Perception and Action: Philosophical Issues

Justification

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Foundationalist Theories of Epistemic Justification
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Epistemology, 2. What is Justification?
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Public Justification
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Internalist vs. Externalist Conceptions of Epistemic Justification
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Coherentist Theories of Epistemic Justification