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Definition: epistemology from Philip's Encyclopedia

Branch of philosophy that critically examines the nature, limits and validity of knowledge, and the difference between knowledge and belief. Descartes showed that many previously 'philosophical' questions would be better studied scientifically, and that what remained of metaphysics should be absorbed into epistemology.


Epistemology

From Encyclopedia of Philosophy & the Social Sciences
Epistemology is the philosophical subdiscipline that studies the evaluative dimensions of cognition, their metaphysical bases, and, increasingly nowadays, the language we use to ascribe cognitive achievements. The nature and scope of knowledge is the central focus of epistemology. Assertion is a speech act whereby we communicate to our audience that a certain proposition is true, and it is the main way we communicate information to one another. Given that we rely so pervasively on assertions, it is natural to wonder what the standards ought to be for our assertions and whether we as assertors live up to them? Research into the epistemic norms of assertion is one of the most exciting and rapidly growing fields within philosophy. Within this field, the leading proposal is that knowledge is the norm of assertion, a view known as the knowledge account of assertion. The knowledge account of assertion says that knowledge sets the standard for permissible assertion: You may assert P only if…
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Full text Article Epistemology

From Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science
Epistemology is the philosophical study of what is required in order to have rational beliefs and knowledge. Both traditional a priori methods of philosophy and a posteriori methods of cognitive science have been brought to bear on this question . Epistemology answers to a daunting variety of senses…
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Full text Article epistemology

From Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
The theory of knowledge, epistemology is one of the core subjects within philosophy. It tries to answer questions about the nature, sources, scope, and justification of knowledge. In some languages, epistemology is often equated with the philosophy of science. However, in sociology, epistemology has…
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Full text Article Epistemology

From World of Sociology, Gale
Epistemology is the theory of knowledge which centers on understanding how we develop or acquire knowledge. Originating with the development of scientific thought during the Age of Enlightenment , epistemology is distinguished by two conflicting schools of thought, rationalism and empiricism . …
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Full text Article Epistemologies

From The SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies
Epistemology is the philosophy of knowledge and its production, sources, scope, structure, methods, and conditions. There are different, often contested ways of knowing and accounting for that multiplicity necessitates the plural: epistemologies . Epistemologies examine the how, what, why, where, …
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Full text Article EPISTEMOLOGY

From Dictionary of Visual Discourse: A Dialectical Lexicon of Terms
A synthetic term composed from the Greek words for knowledge, episteme and discourse, logos . The philosophical discipline that studies the nature, source, structure and justification of knowledge - of how we come to know, the origins of knowledge, what we know, methods of knowing, and how we…
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Full text Article EPISTEMOLOGY

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician Between physics and philosophy there lies a debatable territory which I shall call scientific epistemology . The Philosophy of Physical Science Chapter I (p. 1 ) The University Press. Cambridge England . 1932. American Protestant theologi... …
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Full text Article EPISTEMOLOGY

From Global Dictionary of Theology
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that investigates the nature of knowledge and the methods of its justification. The term originated from two Greek words: epistēmē (knowledge) and logos (theory). The common English equivalent for epistemology is the theory of knowledge. Epistemology is…
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Full text Article epistemology

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Study of the origin, nature, and limits of human knowledge. Nearly every great philosopher has contributed to the epistemological literature. Some historically important issues in epistemology are: (1) whether knowledge of any kind is possible, and if so what kind; (2) whether some human knowledge…
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Full text Article Epistemology

From The Social Science Jargon-Buster
Core definition How it is that we come to have legitimate knowledge of the world; rules for knowing. Longer explanation It's in our nature to try to understand the world. We want to know, discover, uncover, and understand the mysteries of the self , the social world, the natural world, and even the…
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Full text Article Epistemology

From International Encyclopedia of Human Geography
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Glossary Epistemology the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of knowledge. Ontology the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of existence and what it means to exist. Positivism an epistemological position prioritizing empirical evidence…
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