Epistemology

What is Epistemology? What does it study?

• Episteme (meaning ‘knowledge’).

• Logos (meaning ‘rational study’ or ‘theoretical inquiry’.

epistemology is the study of theory and knowledge

A Priori knowledge

• you are born with some knowledge

• we get info from senses but doesnt give deep knowledge or distinct ideas

• you dont have to observe the world to gain knowledge

A Posteriori knowledge

Knowledge is based on experience

• sense perception is the only valid source of knowledge

• the human mind has nothing except what experiences are put there

Who were rationalists?

• Plato

• St. Augustine

• B. Spinoza

• Anne Conway

• Gottfried Leibniz

• Georg Hegel

• Rene Descartes 

Shankara- Indian philosopher

Most were mathematicians first

Who were empiricists?

Kuhn - Opposition to Popper / long indoctrination / Kuhn cycle

George Berkeley and his view of knowledge