Epistemology
 One of the ‘pillars of philosophy”
 Explores the nature, scope, limits and origin of
human knowledge
 Touches on all branches of philosophy
Knowledge
 Justification
 Defining “knowledge”?
 Truth
Science vs Epistemology
 Disciplines in constant disagreement
 Science: materialist (observation/evidence-based
approach)
 Epistemologists may question the “evidence” of the
senses (not reliable knowledge)
 Einstein and Heisenberg – order vs. chaos
Kongfuzi say:
At fifteen my heart was set on learning;
At thirty I stood firm;
At forty I had no more doubts;
At fifty I knew the mandate of heaven;
At sixty my ear was obedient;
At seventy I could follow my heart's desire without
transgressing the norm.
Confucius The Analects
Rationalism
 Reason the primary source of human knowledge
 The senses are
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
 Rationalists include: Plato, Descartes
Empiricism
 All knowledge comes from experience which is
ultimately acquired through the senses
 Mind is a _______ or _______ ________at birth.
Experiences are gained through the senses giving
birth to ideas
 Key players: ____________, ________________
Epistemology terms
 a priori –
 a posteriori-
examples
 5 is a prime number
 We had too much snow this winter
 All brothers are male siblings
 The coffee is too hot
 If Liam 1 has more pencils than Liam 2 and Loredana
has more pencils than Liam 1 then Loredana has
more pencils than Liam 2
Why does this matter?
 “I didn’t know I was that close”
 “I didn’t know that the ice was that thin”
 All facts, opinions and beliefs formed are exercises in
epistemology. Eg. “I’m not going to be late”, “That’s
not dirty yet”
 Common sense realism – “what you see is what you
get” is ___________________________________
_________________________________________
Plato and knowledge
 Knowledge is defined as a “justified true belief”
 3 conditions:
-_________________________
-_________________________
-______________________________
Problem: What if statement is based on false
assumption or knowledge? Eg. Cow in the field?
Is this knowledge justified?
 Did the farmer “know”
that the cow was in the
field?
 Although he may be
justified in making the
claim his actual “evidence”
was false
 The fact that his original
statement was true does
not mean that he “knew”
the truth at the time
Justified True Belief –
Gettier style
Statement is
true
Justification
does not
depend on
false
statement
knowledge
You are
justified in
believing your
statement is
true
You believe
your
statement is
true
Types of knowledge
 Direct knowledge –
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
e.g. smelling someone’s perfume
 Indirect knowledge –
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
e.g. sitting on a chair, not seeing its legs, but still knowing it
will support your weight. Not always reliable (i.e. thin ice)
Types of knowledge
Bertrand Russell – 20th century philosophyer
 Knowledge by acquaintance – ________________
____________________________________________
But… how do we account for knowledge of true events that we do not
experience (e.g. signing of Declaration of Independence)?
 Knowledge by description – ___________________
_____________________________________________
Types of knowledge
 Competence – “how to” knowledge. Knowledge as
ability
 Propositional knowledge – information that can be
conveyed in words. Propositions differ from statements
as they can be judged as either _________ or __________
e.g. “Mike weighs 200 pounds” vs. “Shut the door!”
Both are statements but only the 1st is a proposition as it can
be said to have truth value
Foundationalism vs. AntiFoundationalism
 Foundationalists believe that knowledge rests on
the foundation of ___________ ____________
(Aristotle, Descartes, _______)
 Anti-foundationalists argue that knowledge is
________. (Plato)
Experience
A posteriori
Knowledge
A priori
Innate
Ideas