Epistemology
What is Epistemology?
- Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge and the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge.
Branches of Epistemology
- There are several key branches within epistemology, including rationalism, empiricism, and scepticism.
Rationalism
- Rationalism holds that reason is the primary source and test of knowledge.
- Key figures include Descartes and Kant, who asserted that there are certain truths which we know independently of our experiences.
Empiricism
- Empiricism maintains that experience is the main source of knowledge.
- Key account holders include Locke and Hume, who asserted that all knowledge derives from our senses.
Scepticism
- Scepticism challenges the possibility of complete and accurate knowledge, sometimes denying its existence altogether.
- A common form of scepticism is global scepticism, which doubts that any knowledge can be had at all.
Key Concepts in Epistemology
- Some key concepts in epistemology include justification, belief, truth, and knowledge.
Justification
- Justification refers to the logical grounding of a belief, which is necessary for the belief to be considered knowledge.
Belief
- Belief is the mental attitude that some proposition is the case regardless of whether it is or not.
Truth
- Truth refers to the quality or state of being in accordance with fact or reality.
Knowledge
- Knowledge generally refers to an understanding of something, where ‘understanding’ means a justified true belief in that thing.
Challenges in Epistemology
- A famous problem in epistemology is the Gettier problem, which challenges the traditional concept of knowledge.
- The Gettier problem comprises several scenarios or Gettier cases where someone has a belief that is justified and true, but it seems wrong to say that they have knowledge.
- This suggests there may be more to knowledge than just being a justified true belief.
Responses to the Gettier Problem
- Various solutions have been proposed to solve the Gettier problem.
- These include redefining knowledge, adding extra conditions to the old definition of knowledge, or accepting that sometimes knowledge does include justified true beliefs that aren’t knowledge.
- Some theorists suggest that knowledge requires that the belief is produced by a reliable method.
- Others have proposed the No False Lemmas response, which adds the condition that the justified true belief doesn’t rely on any false information.