Outline of epistemology

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to epistemology:

Epistemology or theory of knowledge – branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge.^[1] The term was introduced into English by the Scottish philosopher James Frederick Ferrier (1808–1864).^[2] Epistemology asks the questions: "What is knowledge?", "How is knowledge acquired?", and "What do people know?"

According to Plato, knowledge is a subset of that which is both true and believed.

Essence of epistemology

Descriptive knowledge ("knowledge that")
Scientific method
Truth

Branches of epistemology

Alethiology – the study of the nature of truth
Formal epistemology – subdiscipline of epistemology that uses formal methods from logic, probability theory and computability theory to elucidate traditional epistemic problems.
Meta-epistemology – metaphilosophical study of the subject, matter, methods and aims of epistemology and of approaches to understanding and structuring our knowledge of knowledge itself.
Social epistemology

Epistemological theories

Justification

Theories of justification
- Foundationalism – Self-evident 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.
- Internalism – The believer must be able to justify a belief through internal knowledge.
- Externalism – Outside sources of knowledge can be used to justify a belief.
- Skepticism – A variety of viewpoints questioning the possibility of knowledge.
- Minority viewpoints include:
  - Foundherentism – A combination of foundationalism and coherentism proposed by Susan Haack.
  - Infinitism – Beliefs are justified by infinite chains of reasons, as proposed by Peter D. Klein.
Common justifiers
- Scientific method – body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new^[3] knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. A scientific method consists of the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses.^[4]
- Occam's Razor – the principle that "entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity" (entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem). The popular interpretation of this principle is that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. However, this is often confused, as the 'simple' "is really referring to the theory with the fewest new assumptions." ^[5]
- Empiricism – theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge arises from evidence gathered via sense experience. Empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence, especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas, over the notion of innate ideas or tradition.^[6]
- Induction – kind of reasoning that allows for the possibility that the conclusion is false even where all of the premises are true.^[7] The premises of an inductive logical argument indicate some degree of support (inductive probability) for the conclusion but do not entail it; i.e. they do not ensure its truth.
- Pragmatism – philosophical movement that includes those who claim that an ideology or proposition is true if it works satisfactorily, that the meaning of a proposition is to be found in the practical consequences of accepting it, and that impractical ideas are to be rejected.
- Probability theory – branch of mathematics concerned with analysis of random phenomena.^[8] The central objects of probability theory are random variables, stochastic processes, and events: mathematical abstractions of non-deterministic events or measured quantities that may either be single occurrences or evolve over time in an apparently random fashion. If repeated many times the sequence of random events will exhibit certain statistical patterns, which can be studied and predicted.
- Abductive Reasoning or Inference to the Best Explanation – kind of logical inference described by Charles Sanders Peirce as the process of arriving at an explanatory hypothesis. Thus, to abduce a hypothetical explanation $a$ as a conclusion from a noticed curious circumstance $b$ as a premiss, is to surmise that $a$ may be true because then $b$ would be a matter of course.^[9]

Alphabetical Order

History of epistemology

Epistemological concepts

Persons influential in the field of epistemology

References

↑ Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Volume 3, 1967, Macmillan, Inc.
↑ Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, 2007
↑ Goldhaber & Nieto 2010, p. 940
↑ scientific method, Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
↑ The NESS: The Razor in the Toolbox
↑ Baird, Forrest E.; Walter Kaufmann (2008). From Plato to Derrida. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-158591-6.
↑ John Vickers. The Problem of Induction. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
↑ Probability theory, Encyclopaedia Britannica
↑ Peirce, C. S. (1903), Harvard lectures on pragmatism, Collected Papers v. 5, paragraphs 188–189.

External links

What Is Epistemology? – a brief introduction to the topic by Keith DeRose.
Certain Doubts – a group blog run by Jonathan Kvanvig, with many leading epistemologists as contributors.
The Epistemological Lifeboat by Birger Hjørland & Jeppe Nicolaisen (eds.)
The Epistemology Page by Keith DeRose.
Epistemology Papers – a collection of Michael Huemer's papers.
Epistemology Introduction, Part 1 and Part 2 by Paul Newall at the Galilean Library.
Teaching Theory of Knowledge (1986) – Marjorie Clay (ed.), an electronic publication from The Council for Philosophical Studies.
Epistemology: The Philosophy of Knowledge – an introduction at Groovyweb.
Introduction to Theory of Knowledge – from PhilosophyOnline.
The Peripatetic – A practical introduction to the theory of knowledge
Theory of Knowledge – an introduction to epistemology, exploring the various theories of knowledge, justification, and belief.
A Theory of Knowledge by Clóvis Juarez Kemmerich, on the Social Science Research Network, 2006.
An Introduction to Epistemology by Paul Newall, aimed at beginners.
David Speaks Live - A lecture on Ontological Epistemology
On a Critical Epistemology
Language Perception and Action: Philosophical Issues

Justification

Epistemology

Epistemologists	Thomas Aquinas Augustine of Hippo William Alston Robert Audi A. J. Ayer George Berkeley Laurence BonJour René Descartes Fred Dretske Edmund Gettier Roger Gibson Alvin Goldman Nelson Goodman Paul Grice David Hume Immanuel Kant Søren Kierkegaard Saul Kripke David Lewis John Locke G. E. Moore Robert Nozick Alvin Plantinga Plato Hilary Putnam Thomas Reid Gilbert Ryle P. F. Strawson Willard Van Orman Quine Bertrand Russell Timothy Williamson Ludwig Wittgenstein Nicholas Wolterstorff Vienna Circle

Theories	Coherentism Constructivist epistemology Contextualism Determinism Empiricism Evolutionary epistemology Fallibilism Feminist epistemology Fideism Foundationalism Genetic epistemology Holism Infinitism Innatism Internalism and externalism Naïve realism Naturalized epistemology Phenomenalism Positivism Reductionism Reliabilism Representative realism Rationalism Skepticism Theory of Forms Transcendental idealism Uniformitarianism

Concepts	A priori knowledge Analysis Analytic–synthetic distinction Belief Causality Common sense Descriptive knowledge Exploratory thought Gettier problem Justification Knowledge Induction Objectivity Problem of induction Problem of other minds Perception Proposition Regress argument Simplicity Speculative reason Truth more...

Related articles	Outline of epistemology Alethiology Faith and rationality Formal epistemology Meta-epistemology Philosophy of perception Philosophy of science Social epistemology

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