Outline of epistemology

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)
  - Standard of proof
Truth
- Criteria of truth
Belief
- Belief revision
Virtue epistemology
- Unity of knowledge and action

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
- Computational epistemology
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

References

^ Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Volume 3, 1967, Macmillan, Inc.
^ Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2007

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