Epistemology : Knowledge And Validity

With this lesson, we begin a new unit on epistemology, which is the philosophical study of knowledge claims. In this first lesson on epistemology, we begin by examining the question “What do we mean when we say we know something?” What exactly is knowledge? We will begin with a presentation that introduces the traditional definition of knowledge. Wood then discusses some of the basic issues raised in the study of epistemology and then presents an approach to epistemology that focuses on obtaining the intellectual virtues, a point we will elaborate on in the next lesson.

Moving on, the author explained that the concept of epistemology is a “system of knowing” instead of simply “way of knowing”. Epistemology include both inner logic and outer validity. Author Billings explained this by describing the difference between “literature” and “folklore”. The literatures written by the minorities are very likely to be identified as the “folklore” category as they are always seen to be less talented than the whites, and the society naturally downgrade their

     Epistemology is the nature of knowledge. Knowledge is important when considering what is reality and what is deception. The movie “The Matrix” displays a social deception in which Neo, the main character, is caught between what he thought was once reality and a whole new world that controls everything he thought was real. If I were Neo, I would not truly be able to know that I was in the matrix. However, it is rational to believe that I am in the matrix and will eventually enter back into my reality later. The proof that that I can know that I am in the matrix and that I will return to reality comes from the responses of foundationalism, idealism, and pallibalism.

Between the two schools of epistemology, rationalism and empiricism, I am inclined towards the philosophies of rationalism. I am persuaded towards philosophical approaches which are superior at attaining truth. Empiricism relies on observation using the five senses in reasoning to achieve truth. However, in Plato’s Thaetetus, Socrates gives strong arguments for the limitations of human perception. The Canadian legal system, also, recognizes flaws in human observation, which increases my skepticism of empiricism. Conversely, rationalism relies solely on the use of logic and deduction in reasoning. Both, Plato and Socrates stressed the value of rationalism through the ability to know and express combinations of elements through mathematics. Large

The topic of knowledge and belief has been a subject of investigation and a primary field in philosophical research for centuries. Whether it was Aristotle or Descartes, multiple ideas on knowledge and belief arise, such as the epistemological theories of foundationalism or coherentism, which provide philosophical explanations to this debate. For the sake of this essay, and in my own opinion, knowledge should be distinguished from belief. Everyone is subject to different types of beliefs based on upbringing, however knowledge of basic items is universal, therefore it immediately becomes apparent that there is a clear distinction between the two concepts.

The pursuit of truth: Epistemology provides understanding for the reader to gain insight to the way that humans process and react to truth. Epistemology is the pursuit of intellectual virtue. It wants to provide an evidentiary basis for belief, rather than one of just opinion. Entwistle then brings up another important topic which is Metaphysics. Metaphysics can be defined as the philosophical investigation of the nature, constitution and stature of reality. Philosophical anthropology attempts to validate assumptions made by theologians and psychologists about human nature and behavior (Entwistle, pp119).

Still sometimes, prosecutors might be persuaded that they have the correct respondent and a totally precise charge with respect to what crime(s) he or she carried out, but secure a conviction might be flawed. This obviously is valuable for the two sides to mastermind a determination of the issue without either side taking the risk that the body of evidence may conflict with them if it somehow managed to go to trial.

Epistemology or theory of knowledge is a branch of philosophy related to the scope and nature of knowledge. The subject focuses on examining the nature of knowledge, and how it relates to beliefs, justification, and truth. Epistemology contract with the means of production of knowledge, as well as skepticism about different knowledge claims. “Epistemology is the philosophical investigation into this question: What can we know? The question, at first, seems pretty simple: It seems pretty obvious that I know that 3+5+8, that the sun will rise tomorrow and that my chances of winning the lottery aren’t very good. I also know

When one thinks they are using one of two ways of thinking; simple subconscious effort, system one thinking, or a deep analytical process, system two thinking. System two requires a lot more concentration and takes a lot of energy making it a shorter stint of thinking whereas system one can is simple and can be done for a long period of time. In this class we learned about multiple epistemological terms, and also how to put them into context by applying them with passages of writing. In a passage about the hunt for bin laden we read through and attempted to use our terms to break down the report. Epistemological terms are demonstrated every day but they go unnoticed most of the time, in the Bin Laden hunt many epistemological terms were shown throughout the process of Obama’s search for the best way to capture or kill the Al Qaeda leader. In this article obama demonstrates multiple epistemological terms, he performs Supporting Claims with evidence, The Five why’s and the scientific method.

The aim of this essay is to carry out a research on why black people are more likely to be stop and search than a white or Asian. The assignment will be using literature explore the logic behind stop and search in the country and analyze the power police have when they are undertaking stop and search. This essay will be utilising the epistemology approach to find out the true about stop and search and determine limitation of knowledge. The essay going to be looking at ethical issues that would need to take into consider when carrying out a research on stop and search the reason why you need to have ethical consideration as researcher. This paper will be inspecting practical issue that are involve when performing a stop and search research project. The paper will be using quantitative method to measure how many people are affected by stop and search and who disagree with the power of the police. The quantitative method will give an overall statistic on how many people experience stops and search in

In Miranda Fricker’s article Testimonial Injustice, she highlights the significant effects for the connection of ethics and epistemology. Ethics is one of the philosophies’ branches that asks the question, “What is a good life or how to live a good life?” Epistemology is the theory of philosophy that ask the questions, “What do you know?” and “How do you know it?” Fricker basically, combines the two subjects at the matter and produced the concept of epistemic injustice. According to Fricker, epistemic injustices comes in the form of testimonial injustice.

There are two main schools of thought, or methods, in regards to the subject of epistemology: rationalism and empiricism. These two, very different, schools of thought attempt to answer the philosophical question of how knowledge is acquired. While rationalists believe that this process occurs solely in our minds, empiricists argue that it is, instead, through sensory experience. After reading and understanding each argument it is clear that empiricism is the most relative explanatory position in epistemology.

Merriam-Webster defines epistemology as “the study of the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge.” As applied to intelligence, the application of epistemology becomes highly important when analysts are making judgements while assessing information that is not fully factual. Analysts work with information that can be ambiguous, deceptive, conflicting, and even absent; yet, they are required to produce intelligence products that are reliable enough for policymakers to act upon and make decisions. In these situations, the analyst must make good use of epistemology to ensure that the intelligence judgements are reliable. Regarding intelligence analysis, there are four epistemologies, or “ways of knowing”, that are used: authority, habit of thought, rationalism, and empiricism. Science is a fifth epistemology that combines attributes of rationalism and empiricism. An analyst must know which epistemology he or she used to understand the errors that may be made and the self-correcting mechanisms needed to improve reliability.

Epistemology- Epistemology is the division between empiricism and rationalism in different ways of thinking about how we reason and rationalise that knowledge and how it is reliable and certain, epistemology gives us our professional theories, beliefs and practices and how we differentiate between what is true and false. (Scott, 2014).

Philosophy is the careful study if the states of, validity, existence, and conduct. It comes from the Greek word, philosophia, which translates into “the love of wisdom”. Philosophy encompasses a vast range of topics and ever person, place, thing, and idea has its roots embedded in it. For the purpose of this paper, I will be only covering the branches of epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics. These branches serve as the building blocks for studying and teaching philosophy. While examining these building blocks, I will argue why philosophy should be studied.