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Epistemology

ih-pis-tuh-MOL-uh-jee
Also Known As Theory of Knowledge
Epistemology

The branch of philosophy that studies knowledge itself: what it is, how it differs from mere belief, and how, if at all, it can be justified. The classical analysis treats knowledge as justified true belief, a formula traced to Plato's Theaetetus, though Edmund Gettier's 1963 counterexamples showed that justified true belief can still fall short of knowledge, opening a live debate over what a fourth condition would have to add. Epistemology also asks where knowledge comes from: rationalists such as Descartes held that reason alone can establish some truths, while empiricists such as Locke and Hume held that all substantive knowledge of the world must ultimately trace back to sense experience. Scepticism, the challenge that we may know far less than we assume, runs through the branch from Pyrrho to Descartes' own methodical doubt.

Facts
Disputed
Key Debate
Internalism versus externalism about justification: internalists hold that what justifies a belief must be accessible from within the believer's own perspective, on reflection alone, while externalists such as reliabilists hold that a belief can be justified by standing in a reliable relation to the world, such as ordinary perception, that the believer need not be aware of at all. 1
Whether justification is a matter of the believer's own accessible reasons or can be conferred by a reliable process the believer need not be aware of divides epistemologists into internalist and externalist camps.
Key Debate
The Gettier problem: Edmund Gettier's 1963 counterexamples showed that a belief can be justified and true purely by luck without amounting to knowledge, so justified true belief is not sufficient for knowledge; the search for a fourth condition, or a wholly different analysis of knowledge, remains open more than sixty years later. 1
Edmund Gettier's 1963 three-page paper overturned a definition of knowledge many philosophers had treated as settled, and the search for a replacement has not converged.
Central Question
What can we know, and how do we know it? 1
Key Debate
Rationalism versus empiricism: whether substantive knowledge can be reached by reason alone, as Descartes argues from the cogito, or requires grounding in sense experience, as Locke argues against any innate ideas. 1
FAQs

What is the Gettier problem, and why does it matter for the definition of knowledge?

In 1963 Edmund Gettier showed that a belief can be justified and true purely by luck without counting as knowledge, so justified true belief is not enough to define knowledge, and philosophers are still looking for what else is needed.

For centuries philosophers defined knowledge as justified true belief. In 1963 Edmund Gettier published counterexamples showing a person could hold a belief that was both justified and true, yet only by luck, in a way that did not seem to amount to real knowledge. That showed justified true belief is not sufficient for knowledge on its own. More than sixty years later, philosophers are still searching for a fourth condition to add, or for a wholly different analysis of what knowledge actually is.
Connections

Associated With

Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Plato, Philosophers
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Includes

Academic Skepticism is classified as an epistemological school: its central concern is the possibility and limits of knowledge (the New Academy's suspension of judgment on the criterion of truth).

Source Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Source Wikipedia: Alexander Bird
Source Wikipedia: Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i
Source Alvin Goldman (Wikipedia)
Source Alvin Plantinga (Wikipedia)
Source Amia Srinivasan (Wikipedia)
Source Aristippus (Wikipedia)
Source Ásta Kristjana Sveinsdóttir (Wikipedia)
Ayn Rand, Philosophers
Source Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Ayn Rand
Source Baron d'Holbach (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Bernard Bolzano
Source Wikipedia: Bill Brewer
Source Blaise Pascal (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: C. D. Broad
Source Carneades (Wikipedia)
Source Cartesian Circle (Wikipedia)
Cicero, Philosophers
Source Cicero (Wikipedia)
Source Crispin Wright, Wikipedia
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Source David Kaplan (philosopher), Wikipedia
Source David Lewis (philosopher) (Wikipedia)
Source Denis Diderot (Wikipedia)
Source Dharmakirti (Wikipedia)
Source Didier Kaphagawani (Wikipedia)
Source Donald Davidson (Wikipedia)
Source Edmund Gettier (Wikipedia)
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Source Foundationalism (Wikipedia)
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Source Georg Henrik von Wright, Wikipedia
Source George Santayana (Wikipedia)
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Gorgias, Philosophers
Source Gorgias (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Hamid Vahid-Dastjerdi
Source Hans-Georg Gadamer (Wikipedia)
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Source Heraclitus (Wikipedia)
Source Hilary Putnam (Wikipedia)
Source Ibn Arabi - Wikipedia
Source Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Ibn Kammuna
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Showing 1 to 50 of 135 in Includes, page 1 of 3.

Open Questions

Sources
1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Information
  • entry: Epistemology
    The term "epistemology" comes from the Greek words "episteme" and "logos". "Episteme" can be translated as "knowledge" or "understanding" or "acquaintance", while "logos" can be translated as "account" or "argument" or "reason".
  • s.v. Epistemology
  • entry: Rene Descartes; entry: John Locke
  • s.v. The Analysis of Knowledge
  • s.v. Internalist vs. Externalist Conceptions of Epistemic Justification
  • Includes: Plato
  • Includes: Immanuel Kant
  • Includes: David Hume
  • Includes: The Critique of Pure Reason
  • Includes: The Problem of Induction
  • Includes: John Locke
  • Includes: Socrates
  • Includes: Rene Descartes
  • Includes: Rationalism, s.v. Rationalism vs. Empiricism
  • Includes: Empiricism, s.v. Rationalism vs. Empiricism
  • Associated With: Plato, entry: Epistemology; Plato's Theaetetus
  • Includes: Pyrrho of Elis
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Epistemology (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIntroduction
Quote, Introduction
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called the theory of knowledge, it explores different types of knowledge.
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Ancient Skepticism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Includes: Pyrrhonism
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Includes: Nyaya, entry: Nyaya, Introduction
Quote, Includes: Nyaya, entry: Nyaya, Introduction
Epistemologically, Nyaya develops a sophisticated precursor to contemporary reliabilism (particularly process reliabilism), centered on the notion of knowledge-sources (pramana).
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Tabula Rasa (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Tabula Rasa, Introduction
Quote, Includes: Tabula Rasa, Introduction
Tabula rasa; Latin for "blank slate"
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Problem of Induction (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Problem of Induction, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Problem of Induction, Lead section
The problem of induction is a philosophical problem that questions the rationality of predictions about unobserved things based on previous observations.
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Reliabilist Epistemology (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyIncludes: Reliabilism, Reliabilist Epistemology (SEP), introduction
Quote, Includes: Reliabilism, Reliabilist Epistemology (SEP), introduction
According to the reliabilist approach to epistemology, any adequate account will need to mention the reliability of the process responsible for the belief, or truth-conducive considerations more generally.
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Problem of the Criterion (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • Includes: Problem of the Criterion, Problem of the criterion (Wikipedia), introduction
    In the field of epistemology, the problem of the criterion is an issue regarding the starting point of knowledge.
  • Includes: Problem of the Criterion, Lead
    In the field of epistemology, the problem of the criterion is an issue regarding the starting point of knowledge.
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John Dewey (Wikipedia)
Includes: John Dewey, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: John Dewey, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of education, epistemology, journalism, ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, metaphysics
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Wikipedia: Mozi
WikipediaIncludes: Mozi, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Mozi, Infobox: main_interests
Ethics, social and political philosophy, logic, epistemology
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Donald Davidson (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Donald Davidson, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Donald Davidson, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of language, philosophy of action, philosophy of mind, epistemology, ontology
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Gilles Deleuze (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Gilles Deleuze, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Gilles Deleuze, Infobox: main_interests
Aesthetics, history of Western philosophy, literary theory, metaphilosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, social philosophy, psychoanalysis, semiotics (film semiotics)
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Jurgen Habermas (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Jürgen Habermas, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Jürgen Habermas, Infobox: main_interests
Epistemology critical social theory political theory philosophy of law Rationalization (sociology), rationalization pragmatics pragmatism
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William of Ockham (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: William of Ockham, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: William of Ockham, Infobox: main_interests
Natural philosophy metaphysics epistemology theology logic ontology politics Theological voluntarism
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George Santayana (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: George Santayana, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: George Santayana, Infobox: main_interests
Moral philosophy, political philosophy, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of religion
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Willard Van Orman Quine (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Willard Van Orman Quine, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Willard Van Orman Quine, Infobox: main_interests
Logic, ontology, epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of science, set theory
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Saul Kripke (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Saul Kripke, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Saul Kripke, Infobox: main_interests
Logic (particularly modal) Philosophy of language Metaphysics Set theory Epistemology Philosophy of mind History of analytic philosophy
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Xenophanes (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Xenophanes, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Xenophanes, Infobox: main_interests
Social criticism Natural philosophy Epistemology
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Hilary Putnam (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Hilary Putnam, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Hilary Putnam, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of mind, of language, of science, and of mathematics Metaphilosophy Epistemology Jewish philosophy
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Rudolf Carnap (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Rudolf Carnap, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Rudolf Carnap, Infobox: main_interests
LogicEpistemology Philosophy of science Semantics
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Robert Nozick (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Robert Nozick, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Robert Nozick, Infobox: main_interests
Political philosophy, ethics, epistemology
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Walter Benjamin (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Walter Benjamin, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Walter Benjamin, Infobox: main_interests
Literary theory, aesthetics, philosophy of technology, epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of history
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Alvin Plantinga (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Alvin Plantinga, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Alvin Plantinga, Infobox: main_interests
Epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, logic, modal logic, philosophy of science, natural theology
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Edmund Gettier (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Edmund Gettier, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Edmund Gettier, Infobox: main_interests
Epistemology
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Henri Bergson (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Henri Bergson, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Henri Bergson, Infobox: main_interests
Metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, studies of immediate experience
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Hans-Georg Gadamer (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Hans-Georg Gadamer, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Hans-Georg Gadamer, Infobox: main_interests
Metaphysics, Epistemology, Philosophy of language, Language, Ontology, Aesthetics, Hermeneutics
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David Lewis (philosopher) (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: David Lewis, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: David Lewis, Infobox: main_interests
LogicPhilosophy of languageMetaphysics EpistemologyEthics
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Wilfrid Sellars (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Wilfrid Sellars, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Wilfrid Sellars, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of mind Philosophy of perception Epistemology Meaning Pragmatism Behaviorism History of philosophy Expressivism
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Susan Haack (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Susan Haack, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Susan Haack, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of science Philosophy of logic Epistemology Pragmatism
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Gorgias (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation)Includes: Gorgias, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Gorgias, Infobox: main_interests
Ontology, epistemology, rhetoric, moral relativism
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Dharmakirti (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Dharmakirti, Lead
Quote, Includes: Dharmakirti, Lead
Dharmakīrti (fl. c. 600-670 CE) was an influential Indian Buddhist philosopher who worked at Nālandā. He was one of the key scholars of epistemology (pramāṇa) in Buddhist philosophy, and is associated with the Yogācāra and Sautrāntika schools.
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Paul Feyerabend (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Paul Feyerabend, Infobox: main_interests
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Philosophy of science, epistemology, political philosophy, ancient philosophy, philosophy of mind
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Imre Lakatos (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Imre Lakatos, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Imre Lakatos, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of science, history of science, epistemology, politics
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Cicero (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Cicero, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Cicero, Infobox: main_interests
Political philosophy, Politics, Philosophy of law, law, rhetoric, theology, ethics, epistemology
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Nelson Goodman (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Nelson Goodman, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Nelson Goodman, Infobox: main_interests
Logic, epistemology, metaphysics, induction, counterfactuals, mereology, aesthetics, philosophy of science, philosophy of language
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Jean-Francois Lyotard (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Jean-Francois Lyotard, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Jean-Francois Lyotard, Infobox: main_interests
Epistemology, sociology, political philosophy, aesthetics
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Sandra Harding (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Sandra Harding, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Sandra Harding, Infobox: main_interests
Epistemology, philosophy of science, standpoint theory
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Carneades (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Carneades, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Carneades, Infobox: main_interests
Epistemology, ethics
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Roman Ingarden (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Roman Ingarden, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Roman Ingarden, Infobox: main_interests
Aesthetics, epistemology, formal ontology, nature vs nurture
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Souleymane Bachir Diagne - Wikipedia
Includes: Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of mathematics, Epistemology, Logic, Linguistics, Mathematics, Islamic philosophy
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Ibn Arabi - Wikipedia
Includes: Ibn Arabi, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Ibn Arabi, Infobox: main_interests
Sufism, Tafsir, Epistemology, Ontology, Poetry, Fiqh
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Aristippus (Wikipedia)
Includes: Aristippus, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Aristippus, Infobox: main_interests
Hedonism, Epistemology
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Paul Grice - Wikipedia
Includes: Paul Grice, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Paul Grice, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of language Semantics Pragmatics Metaphysics Epistemology History of philosophy
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Fred Dretske, Wikipedia
Includes: Fred Dretske, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Fred Dretske, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of mind Epistemology
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David Kaplan (philosopher), Wikipedia
Includes: David Kaplan, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: David Kaplan, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of language, logic, metaphysics, epistemology
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Frank Cameron Jackson, Wikipedia
Includes: Frank Jackson, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Frank Jackson, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of mind, epistemology, metaphysics, meta-ethics
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Wikipedia: Jaegwon Kim
Includes: Kim Jaegwon, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Kim Jaegwon, Infobox: main_interests
Action theory (philosophy), Action theory, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of mind, Philosophy of science
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Wikipedia: Samuel Ramos
Includes: Samuel Ramos, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Samuel Ramos, Infobox: main_interests
IdentityMetaphysics EpistemologyEthics
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Georg Henrik von Wright, Wikipedia
Includes: Georg Henrik von Wright, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Georg Henrik von Wright, Infobox: main_interests
Modal logic, philosophy of action, philosophy of language, epistemology, philosophy of science
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Wikipedia: Paul Churchland
Includes: Paul Churchland, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Paul Churchland, Infobox: main_interests
Neurophilosophy, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, artificial intelligence, epistemology
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Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi, Wikipedia
Includes: Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi, Infobox: main_interests
Epistemology, mysticism, Sufi metaphysics
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Timothy Williamson, Wikipedia
Includes: Timothy Williamson, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Timothy Williamson, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophical logic, philosophy of language, epistemology, metaphysics
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Crispin Wright, Wikipedia
Includes: Crispin Wright, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Crispin Wright, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of mind Philosophy of language Philosophy of mathematics Frege Wittgenstein Epistemology
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John McDowell (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: John McDowell, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: John McDowell, Infobox: main_interests
Metaphysics, epistemology, logic, philosophy of language, philosophy of perception, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of mind, ethics, meta-ethics
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Wikipedia: Larry Laudan
Includes: Larry Laudan, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Larry Laudan, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of science, epistemology, philosophy of law
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Wikipedia: C. D. Broad
Includes: C.D. Broad, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: C.D. Broad, Infobox: main_interests
Metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of mind, logic
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Wikipedia: Alexander Bird
Includes: Alexander Bird, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Alexander Bird, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of science, philosophy of medicine, metaphysics, epistemology
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Amia Srinivasan (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Amia Srinivasan, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Amia Srinivasan, Infobox: main_interests
Epistemology Political philosophy Feminist philosophy
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Jesús Padilla Gálvez, Wikipedia
Includes: Jesús Padilla Gálvez, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Jesús Padilla Gálvez, Infobox: main_interests
Logic, ontology, epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of science, ethics.
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Wikipedia: Bernard Bolzano
WikipediaIncludes: Bernard Bolzano, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Bernard Bolzano, Infobox: main_interests
Logic, epistemology, theology
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Wikipedia: Walter Terence Stace
WikipediaIncludes: Walter Terence Stace, Lead
Quote, Includes: Walter Terence Stace, Lead
Walter Terence Stace (17 November 1886-2 August 1967) was a British civil servant, educator, public philosopher and epistemologist, who wrote on Hegel, mysticism, and moral relativism.
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Wikipedia: Nick Zangwill
WikipediaIncludes: Nick Zangwill, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Nick Zangwill, Infobox: main_interests
Aesthetics, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of logic, meta-ethics
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Kristie Dotson (Wikipedia)
Includes: Kristie Dotson, Lead
Quote, Includes: Kristie Dotson, Lead
Her work specialises in epistemology, metaphilosophy, and black feminist philosophy.
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Wikipedia: Jaroslav Peregrin
WikipediaIncludes: Jaroslav Peregrin, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Jaroslav Peregrin, Infobox: main_interests
Epistemology, logic, mind, mathematics, language
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Juan José Sebreli (Wikipedia)
Includes: Juan José Sebreli, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Juan José Sebreli, Infobox: main_interests
epistemology existentialism literary criticism sociology
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Wikipedia: Hamid Vahid-Dastjerdi
WikipediaIncludes: Hamid Vahid-Dastjerdi, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Hamid Vahid-Dastjerdi, Infobox: main_interests
epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophical logic
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Wikipedia: Bill Brewer
WikipediaIncludes: Bill Brewer, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Bill Brewer, Infobox: main_interests
philosophy of mind, metaphysics, epistemology
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José Zalabardo (Wikipedia)
Includes: José Zalabardo, Lead
Quote, Includes: José Zalabardo, Lead
José Zalabardo (born 1964) is a Spanish-British philosopher who works on epistemology, metaphysics, and related areas.
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Didier Kaphagawani (Wikipedia)
Includes: Didier Kaphagawani, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Didier Kaphagawani, Infobox: main_interests
Epistemology, Metaphysics, Ethics
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Wikipedia: Letitia Meynell
WikipediaIncludes: Letitia Meynell, Lead
Quote, Includes: Letitia Meynell, Lead
Her work concerns philosophy of science, epistemology, feminist philosophy, and human/animal relationships.
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Wikipedia: Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i
Includes: Allameh Tabatabai, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Allameh Tabatabai, Infobox: main_interests
Epistemology, hadith studies, Islamic metaphysics, mysticism, ontology, tafsir, Quranic exegesis
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Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Ralph Waldo Emerson
Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyIncludes: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Abstract
Quote, Includes: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Abstract
Neoplatonism, Kantianism, and Hinduism, Emerson developed a metaphysics of process, an epistemology of moods, and an “existentialist” ethics of self-improvement.
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Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Ayn Rand
Internet Encyclopedia of PhilosophyIncludes: Ayn Rand, Abstract
Quote, Includes: Ayn Rand, Abstract
This philosophy is in the Aristotelian tradition, with that tradition’s emphasis upon metaphysical naturalism, empirical reason in epistemology, and self-realization in ethics.
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Blaise Pascal (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Blaise Pascal, Page categories: French epistemologistsView the Source
Karl Popper (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Karl Popper, Page categories: EpistemologistsView the Source
Denis Diderot (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Denis Diderot, Page categories: French epistemologistsView the Source
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Richard Rorty
Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyIncludes: Richard Rorty, Abstract
Quote, Includes: Richard Rorty, Abstract
ourselves from the governing metaphors of mind and knowledge in which the traditional problems of epistemology and metaphysics (and indeed, in Rorty’s view, the self-conception of modern philosophy) are rooted.
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Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Kwasi Wiredu
Internet Encyclopedia of PhilosophyIncludes: Kwasi Wiredu, Abstract
Quote, Includes: Kwasi Wiredu, Abstract
Second, he intended to dislodge unnecessary Western epistemologies that are to be found in African philosophical practices.
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Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi
Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyIncludes: Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi, Abstract
Quote, Includes: Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi, Abstract
Suhrawardi provides an original Platonic critique of the dominant Avicennan Peripateticism of the time in the fields of logic, physics, epistemology, psychology, and metaphysics.
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Heraclitus (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation)Includes: Heraclitus, Page categories: Ancient Greek epistemologistsView the Source
Voltaire (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Voltaire, Page categories: French epistemologistsView the Source
Sextus Empiricus (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Sextus Empiricus, Page categories: Ancient Greek epistemologistsView the Source
Baron d'Holbach (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Baron d'Holbach, Page categories: EpistemologistsView the Source
Quassim Cassam, Wikipedia
Includes: Quassim Cassam, Lead
Quote, Includes: Quassim Cassam, Lead
He writes on extremism, terrorism, self-knowledge, perception, epistemic vices and topics in Kantian epistemology.
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Richard Bradley (Wikipedia)
Includes: Richard Bradley, Lead
Quote, Includes: Richard Bradley, Lead
Bradley is best known for work on decision theory, formal epistemology, semantics, and climate change policy.
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Sidi Mohamed Barkat (Wikipedia)
Includes: Sidi Mohamed Barkat, Lead
Quote, Includes: Sidi Mohamed Barkat, Lead
After several years of employment by the university, where he was mainly occupied with questions of epistemology in the social sciences, Sidi Mohammed Barkat directed a research programme at the Collège international de philosophie
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Foundationalism (Wikipedia)
Includes: Foundationalism, Lead
Quote, Includes: Foundationalism, Lead
Foundationalism concerns philosophical theories of knowledge resting upon non-inferential justified belief, or some secure foundation of certainty such as a conclusion inferred from a basis of sound premises.
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Munchhausen Trilemma (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Münchhausen Trilemma, Lead
Quote, Includes: Münchhausen Trilemma, Lead
The Münchhausen trilemma (also known as Agrippa's trilemma) is an epistemological thought experiment intended to demonstrate the theoretical impossibility of proving any truth, even in the fields of logic and
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Reliabilism (Wikipedia)
Includes: Reliabilism, Lead
Quote, Includes: Reliabilism, Lead
Reliabilism, a category of theories in the philosophical discipline of epistemology, has been advanced as a theory both of justification and of knowledge.
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New Riddle of Induction (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: New Riddle of Induction, Lead
Quote, Includes: New Riddle of Induction, Lead
The new riddle of induction was presented by Nelson Goodman in Fact, Fiction, and Forecast as a successor to Hume's original problem.
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Cartesian Circle (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Cartesian Circle, Lead
Quote, Includes: Cartesian Circle, Lead
The Cartesian circle (also known as Arnauld's circle) is an example of fallacious circular reasoning attributed to French philosopher René Descartes.
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Transcendental argument (Wikipedia)
Includes: Transcendental Argument, Lead
Quote, Includes: Transcendental Argument, Lead
They are often anti-skeptical arguments referring to the conditions making experience or knowledge possible.
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Wax Argument (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Wax Argument, Lead
Quote, Includes: Wax Argument, Lead
He devised it to analyze what properties are essential for bodies, show how uncertain our knowledge of the world is compared to our knowledge of our minds, and argue for rationalism.
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Peritrope (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Peritrope, Lead
Quote, Includes: Peritrope, Lead
Peritrope (Greek: περιτροπή) is Socrates' argument against Protagoras' view of subjective truth, as presented in Plato's book known as Theaetetus (169-171e).
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Postmodernism (Wikipedia)
Includes: Postmodernism, Lead
Quote, Includes: Postmodernism, Lead
It emerged in the mid-20th century as a skeptical response to modernism, emphasizing the instability of meaning, rejection of universal truths, and critique of grand narratives.
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Jitendra Nath Mohanty (Wikipedia)
Includes: J. N. Mohanty, Article text
Quote, Includes: J. N. Mohanty, Article text
He wrote over twenty scholarly books and numerous journal articles on different areas of philosophy including epistemology, logic, and phenomenology.
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Wikipedia: Nasir Khusraw
Includes: Nasir Khusraw, Article text
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The work discusses creation, questions about the soul, epistemology, and Ismaili Islamic doctrines.
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Alvin Goldman (Wikipedia)
Includes: Alvin Goldman, Infobox: main_interests
Quote, Includes: Alvin Goldman, Infobox: main_interests
Epistemology, philosophy of action
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Ásta Kristjana Sveinsdóttir (Wikipedia)
Includes: Ásta Kristjana Sveinsdóttir, Lead
Quote, Includes: Ásta Kristjana Sveinsdóttir, Lead
Ásta is predominantly concerned with metaphysics, the philosophy of language, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics.
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Wikipedia: Ward Jones
WikipediaIncludes: Ward Jones, Lead
Quote, Includes: Ward Jones, Lead
Jones has published in the areas of epistemology, ethics, philosophy of mind, aesthetics, and metaphilosophy.
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Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Ibn Kammuna
Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyIncludes: Ibn Kammuna, Introduction, epistemology
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At the very least, this shall afford us a glimpse at the way Ibn Kammūna handles a key notion of psychology, epistemology, and the theory of prophecy, in various literary formats.
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Open Questions (3 open questions)
What Satisfies the Missing Condition for Knowledge?

Edmund Gettier's 1963 counterexamples showed that justified true belief, the classical tripartite analysis inherited from Plato's Theaetetus, is not sufficient for knowledge: there are cases of justified true belief that still fall short of knowing. Epistemologists have proposed many candidate fourth conditions since, but the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's own survey concludes that despite considerable attention, particularly in the late twentieth century, no analysis has been widely accepted.

What would resolve this A precise, counterexample-resistant fourth condition, or a replacement analysis of knowledge altogether, that a broad consensus of epistemologists converges on rather than one that continues to generate further counterexamples.
EpistemologyThe Analysis of Knowledge (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
What must be added to, or substituted for, justified true belief for a definition of knowledge that survives Gettier-style counterexamples?

Since Edmund Gettier's 1963 paper, proposed fourth conditions (a no-false-lemmas clause, causal theories, reliabilism, safety and sensitivity conditions, virtue epistemology) have each met their own counterexamples, and no replacement analysis commands consensus.

What would resolve this An analysis of knowledge that survives every known Gettier-style case without ruling out clear cases of ordinary knowledge would resolve it; some epistemologists instead argue the project of analyzing knowledge into more basic conditions should be abandoned.
EpistemologyStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Must what justifies a belief be accessible from within the believer's own perspective, or can a reliable process the believer is unaware of confer justification?

Internalists argue that a justification a thinker cannot access from the inside cannot be doing any justifying work for that thinker; externalists reply that small children and animals plainly have justified perceptual beliefs despite being unable to reflect on their own reliability. Neither side has produced a case the other accepts as decisive.

What would resolve this A shared account of what justification is FOR, whether it is about the thinker's own responsible believing or about tracking truth, would settle which condition is required; the two camps currently start from different accounts of that point.
EpistemologyStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Dissenting Readings (2 dissenting readings)
Key Debate

Williamson rejects the entire project of analyzing knowledge into justified true belief plus a further condition: on his knowledge-first view, knowledge is itself the most basic mental state, not a compound built from belief, truth and justification, so Gettier cases show only that the analytic project was misconceived from the start, not that it merely needs a fourth condition.

A dissenting reading, from Timothy WilliamsonStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Information
Key Debate

Goldman argues that reliabilism, an externalist theory on which a belief is justified when produced by a process that reliably yields true beliefs, better matches ordinary judgments about knowledge than internalism does: a subject with no access at all to why their perception is reliable, a small child, for instance, is still credited with justified perceptual beliefs, which internalism's access requirement cannot easily accommodate.

A dissenting reading, from Alvin GoldmanStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Information

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