User:Phlsph7/Epistemology - Definition
Definition
[edit]Epistemology is the philosophical study of knowledge. Also called theory of knowledge,[a] it examines what knowledge is and what types of knowledge there are. It further investigates the sources of knowledge, like perception, inference, and testimony, to determine how knowledge is created. Another topic is the extent and limits of knowledge, confronting questions about what people can and cannot know.[2] Other central concepts include belief, truth, justification, evidence, and reason.[3] Epistemology is one of the main branches of philosophy besides ethics, logic, and metaphysics.[4] The term can also be used in a slightly different sense to refer not to the branch of philosophy but to a particular position within that branch, as in Plato's epistemology and Immanuel Kant's epistemology.[5]
As a normative field of inquiry, epistemology explores how people should acquire beliefs. This way, it determines which beliefs fulfill the standards or epistemic goals of knowledge and which ones fail, thereby providing an evaluation of beliefs. Descriptive fields of inquiry, like psychology and cognitive sociology, are also interested in beliefs and related cognitive processes. Unlike epistemology, they study the beliefs people have and how people acquire them instead of examining the evaluative norms of these processes.[6][b] Epistemology is relevant to many descriptive and normative disciplines, such as the other branches of philosophy and the sciences, by examining the principles of how they may arrive at knowledge.[8]
The word epistemology comes from the ancient Greek terms ἐπιστήμη (episteme, meaning knowledge or understanding) and λόγος (logos, meaning study of or reason), literally, the study of knowledge. Even though ancient Greek philosophers practiced epistemology, they did not use this word. The term was only coined in the 19th century to label and conceive this field as a distinct branch of philosophy.[9][c]
References
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Less commonly, the term "gnoseology" is also used as a synonym.[1]
- ^ Despite this contrast, epistemologists may rely on insights from the empirical sciences in formulating their normative theories.[7]
- ^ As a label for a branch of philosophy, the term "epistemology" was first used in 1854 by James E. Ferrier.[10]
Citations
[edit]- ^ Merriam-Webster 2024
- ^
- Truncellito, Lead Section
- Blaauw & Pritchard 2005, pp. 49–50
- Crumley II 2009, p. 16
- Carter & Littlejohn 2021, Introduction: 1. What Is Epistemology?
- Moser 2005, p. 3
- ^
- Fumerton 2006, pp. 1–2
- Moser 2005, p. 4
- ^
- Brenner 1993, p. 16
- Palmquist 2010, p. 800
- Jenicek 2018, p. 31
- ^
- Steup & Neta 2024, Lead Section
- Moss 2021, pp. 1–2
- ^
- Crumley II 2009, p. 16
- Carter & Littlejohn 2021, Introduction: 1. What Is Epistemology?
- ^ O′Donohue & Kitchener 1996, p. 2
- ^
- Audi 2003, pp. 258–259
- Wolenski 2004, pp. 3–4
- Campbell 2024, Lead Section
- ^
- Steup & Neta 2024, Lead Section
- Scott 2002, p. 30
- Wolenski 2004, p. 3
- ^ Wolenski 2004, p. 3
Sources
[edit]- Moss, Jessica (2021). Plato's Epistemology: Being and Seeming. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-263735-2.
- Brenner, William H. (1993). Logic and Philosophy: An Integrated Introduction. University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 978-0-268-15898-9. Archived from the original on 30 June 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
- Palmquist, Stephen (2010). Cultivating Personhood: Kant and Asian Philosophy. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-022623-2. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
- Jenicek, Milos (2018). How to Think in Medicine: Reasoning, Decision Making, and Communication in Health Sciences and Professions. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-351-68402-6. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
- Merriam-Webster (2024). "Definition of gnoseology". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
- Wolenski, Jan (2004). "The History of Epistemology". In Niiniluoto, I.; Sintonen, Matti; Wolenski, Jan (eds.). Handbook of Epistemology. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4020-1986-9.
- Scott, Julie F. (2002). "The Nature of Social Research and Social Knowledge". In Marsh, Ian (ed.). Theory and Practice in Sociology. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-13-026553-1.
- Campbell, Richmond (2024). "Moral Epistemology". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
- Audi, Robert (2003). Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge (2 ed.). Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28108-3.
- O′Donohue, William; Kitchener, Richard F. (1996). "Introduction". In O′Donohue, William; Kitchener, Richard F. (eds.). The Philosophy of Psychology. SAGE. ISBN 978-0-85702-612-5.
- Moser, Paul K. (2005). "Introduction". In Moser, Paul K. (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Epistemology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-020818-9.
- Carter, J. Adam; Littlejohn, Clayton (2021). This Is Epistemology: An Introduction. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-119-68034-5.
- Fumerton, Richard A. (2006). Epistemology. Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-2566-6.
- Blaauw, Martijn; Pritchard, Duncan (2005). Epistemology A - Z. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-7486-2213-6.
- Steup, Matthias; Neta, Ram (2024). "Epistemology". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
- Truncellito, David A. "Epistemology". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
- Crumley II, Jack S. (2009). An Introduction to Epistemology - Second Edition. Broadview Press. ISBN 978-1-77048-156-5.