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    Knowledge

    As epistemology is the study of knowledge, (literally from the Greek episteme meaning ‘knowledge’1), it is important that one take in the difficulties in defining knowledge itself before attempting to connect the idea to other areas. Unfortunately, this is no easy task and has had philosophers from Plato to Descartes to Russell scratching their heads for years. Thankfully, we do have a “standard” definition, adopted mostly as the best of many incomplete options. For this definition, we let p be a proposition and S be the subject attempting to gain knowledge about p. p can be considered knowledge if and only if:

    1. S believes p.
    2. p is true.
    3. S's belief in p is justified.

    As you can see, this definition present knowledge as the cross-section of truth and belief - as the ownership of a truth via personal belief.

    While this definition does provide a useful basis for thinking on the topic, it must be noted that many prominent minds have and still do beg to differ, not the least of which being Plato’s Socrates who posited that belief was dangerously unsound by nature and had no place in the search for knowledge (see Belief and Truth for further details). In addition, this raises the very problematic question of the existence of universal knowledge. Due to the sheer range of individual experiences, peoples’ beliefs are incredibly varied and therefore their resultant knowledge will be too. And this isn't even touching on the immediately worrisome prospect of proving p is true as required by criterion 2. How can we hope to prove something is true without knowledge that the scientific theories and equipment we use to prove it is true? Then that knowledge requires proof too, providing an issue rather recursive in nature that, like much in the field of epistemology, continues to undergo rigorous debate.

     

     

    References:

    1. Douglas Harper (2011-15). Epistemology. [ONLINE] Available at: www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=epistemology. [Last Accessed 01/02/2014].
    Paul Pardi (2011). What is Knowledge?. [ONLINE] Available at: www.philosophynews.com/post/2011/09/22/What-is-Knowledge.aspx. [Last Accessed 01/02/2014].

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    BrainMass Categories within Knowledge

    Knowing through Experience

    Solutions: 7

    One proposed method of gaining the proof necessary to constitute knowledge is to use our own senses and experience, though there is an inherent unreliability in sense and memory which makes this problematic.

    Rationalism

    Solutions: 15

    Reason and logic are well-love tools for establishing knowledge in every scientific field from philosophy to mathematics, yet to reason something infallibly is often far harder than it appears.

    Belief & Truth

    Solutions: 17

    This section looks at whether there are differences between belief and truth and what they might be as well as how beliefs are formed and justified.

    BrainMass Solutions Available for Instant Download

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