The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to epistemology:
Epistemology (aka theory of knowledge) – branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge.[1] The term was introduced into English by the Scottish philosopher James Frederick Ferrier (1808–1864).[2] Epistemology asks questions such as: "What is knowledge?", "How is knowledge acquired?", and "What do people know?"
Core topics of epistemology
- Knowledge
- Sources of knowledge (Pramana in Sanskrit)
- Types of knowledge
- Descriptive knowledge – "Knowledge that"
- Procedural knowledge – "Knowledge how"
- Knowledge by acquaintance
- A priori and a posteriori
- Analytic–synthetic distinction
- Gettier problem
- Justification
- Regress argument
- Theories of justification
- Foundationalism – 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 – Beliefs are justified by infinite chains of reasons.
- Foundherentism – Both fallible foundations and coherence are components of justification—proposed by Susan Haack.
- Internalism and externalism – The believer must be able to justify a belief through internal knowledge (internalism), or outside sources of knowledge can be used to justify a belief (externalism).
- Innatism – The mind is born with knowledge.
- Reformed epistemology – Beliefs are warranted by proper cognitive function—proposed by Alvin Plantinga.
- Evidentialism – Beliefs depend solely on the evidence for them.
- Reliabilism – A belief is justified if it is the result of a reliable process.
- Infallibilism – Knowledge is incompatible with the possibility of being wrong.
- Fallibilism – Claims can be accepted even though they cannot be conclusively proven or justified.
- Non-justificationism – Knowledge is produced by attacking claims and refuting them instead of justifying them.
- Falsification (Falsifiability)
- Proof (truth)
- Truth
- Belief
- Virtue epistemology
Schools of thought
Domains of inquiry in epistemology
- Formal epistemology – subdiscipline of epistemology that uses formal methods from logic, probability theory and computability theory to elucidate traditional epistemic problems
- Historical epistemology – study of the historical conditions of, and changes in, different kinds of knowledge
- Meta-epistemology – metaphilosophical study of the subject, matter, methods and aims of epistemology and of approaches to understanding and structuring knowledge of knowledge itself
- Social epistemology – study of collective knowledge and the social dimensions of knowledge
Related fields
See also
References
External links
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