Investigates the nature of knowledge, its origins, scope, and limits, exploring fundamental questions about how we acquire and justify our beliefs.

Epistemology

How Do We "Know"?

How do we know that the things we know are true? For instance, how do you "know" that the Earth is round? Is it because you have personally verified it, or because you trust the books and teachers who told you so?

These fundamental questions about "knowledge" itself are the core issues explored by the ancient branch of philosophy known as Epistemology. It specifically studies the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge.

What is Knowledge?

In the Western philosophical tradition, a classic definition views knowledge as "Justified True Belief (JTB)". This definition might sound a bit convoluted, but it contains three indispensable conditions:

1. Belief: You must genuinely "believe" a proposition.
2. True: The proposition must be in accordance with the facts.
3. Justified: You must have a good, sufficient reason to support your belief.

Merely "believing" something and "happening to be right" by chance does not count as genuine "knowing" in the eyes of philosophers.

Epistemology and Science

Epistemology provides the theoretical foundation for how we assess the reliability of knowledge. The Scientific Method can be seen as a very powerful practical application of epistemology. It offers a highly rigorous framework for "justification," using repeatable experiments and data to verify whether our "beliefs" are "true."

Recommended Reading

• Popular Science:
  • (Book) Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder.
• Textbooks:
  • (Book) Epistemology: A Very Short Introduction by Jennifer Nagel.
  • (Book) What is this thing called Knowledge? by Duncan Pritchard.
• Further Reading:
  • (Book) Theaetetus by Plato.
  • (Book) Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes.