Neblux Knowledge Graph

Epistemology (Theory of Knowledge)

The branch of philosophy investigating the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge — asking what we can know, how we can know it, and what distinguishes genuine knowledge from mere belief — is epistemology.

Overview

Descartes' radical doubt sought foundations secure against all skeptical challenge; Hume showed that induction cannot be justified by reason alone; and Kant argued that knowledge requires both experience and rational structure the mind imposes on it. Formal epistemology models belief, evidence, and rational updating using probability theory and logic, making foundational philosophical questions tractable through mathematical tools.

Why it matters

These debates shaped the foundational logic of every empirical discipline that claims to produce knowledge about the world. Sociology of knowledge reveals how social institutions and power relations shape what counts as legitimate expertise, and evidence hierarchies in medicine reflect explicit epistemological choices about what kinds of evidence reliably guide treatment decisions.

Where it leads

• Immanuel Kant
• Plato

Related concepts

• EpistemologylogicalThis concept represents the theoretical core of epistemology as a discipline — justification, truth, belief, skepticism, and reliability form its central problems
• Philosophy of SciencelogicalPhilosophy of science is applied epistemology — it asks specifically how scientific knowledge is justified, what demarcates science from pseudoscience, and how theories change
• TechnologyappliedDigital epistemology addresses how technology transforms knowledge — search engine rankings, Wikipedia consensus, and AI-generated content reshape what counts as reliable information
• Cognitive ScienceconceptualNaturalized epistemology uses cognitive science findings about perception, memory, and reasoning to empirically ground philosophical theories of knowledge acquisition
• PragmatismconceptualEpistemology (Theory of Knowledge) offers a conceptual lens that clarifies assumptions and reasoning within Pragmatism.