Epistemology

Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar (PhD)

Faculty of Social Science and Humanities,
UKM Bangi
E-mail: mostafa@ukm.edu.my

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Epistemology
 The term "epistemology" is based on the Greek
words "ἐπιστήμη or episteme" (knowledge) and
"λόγος or logos" (account/explanation);
 A branch of philosophy that studies knowledge,
a theory of knowledge.

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Epistemology: theory of
knowledge
 THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE, ALSO CALLED “EPISTEMOLOGY” IS
THE PHILOSOPHICAL DISCIPLINE THAT ATTEMPTS TO:

 (1) DEFINE KNOWLEDGE

 (2) DETERMINE THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE – AND
PROPOSE THEORIES AS TO HOW SUCH KNOWLEDGE IS
POSSIBLE
 (3) SPECIFY A CRITERION OF KNOWLEDGE
 (4) DETERMINE THE LIMITS OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE
 (5) SOLVE VARIOUS PROBLEMS AND PARADOXES ABOUT
KNOWLEDGE.

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Do I know?

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Focus on?
 What is knowledge? What do we mean when we
say that we know something? The nature of
knowledge!
 How is knowledge acquired? Where do we get
knowledge from? How do we know if it's
reliable? When are we justified in saying we
know something? The source and mean of
production of knowledge
 What do people know? What are the limits of
knowledge? Are there any (knowledge) in the
first place? Discussion on the scope of
knowledge (truth, belief, skeptic and
justification)
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The nature of knowledge: Belief
(know) & Knowledge!
 Sometimes, when people say that they believe
in something, what they mean is that they
predict that it will prove to be useful or
successful in some sense—perhaps someone
might "believe in" his or her favorite football
team. This is not the kind of belief usually dealt
with in epistemology. The kind that is dealt with
as such is where "to believe something" just
means to think that it is true — e.g., to believe
that the sky is blue is to think that the
proposition, "The sky is blue," is true.

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Belief & Knowledge
 Knowledge is distinct from belief. If someone claims to
believe something, he or she is claiming that it is the
truth. Of course, it might turn out that he or she was
mistaken, and that what was thought to be true was
actually false. This is not the case with knowledge.
 For example, suppose that Jeff thinks that a particular
bridge is safe, and attempts to cross it; unfortunately, the
bridge collapses under his weight. We might say that Jeff
believed that the bridge was safe, but that his belief was
mistaken. We would not accurately say that he knew that
the bridge was safe, because plainly it was not. For
something to count as knowledge, it must be true.

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Knowledge!
 In Plato's dialogue Theaetetus, Socrates
considers that knowledge is justified true
belief, in order to know that a given
proposition is true, one must not only
believe the relevant true proposition, but
one must also have a good reason for
doing so.

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The nature of knowledge
 A popular classical account held that
knowledge is justified true belief (JTB):
we say we know x if, and only if,
x is true;
 We believe that x;
 We are justified in believing that x.

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Example of nature of Knowledge

 Suppose we want to say that we know it's

snowing outside. According to this account of
knowledge, to know that it's snowing we must
have:
 It's
true that it's snowing outside;
 We need to believe that it's snowing;
 We're justified in believing that it's snowing, because
we can see the snow falling and children are praying
that school will be cancelled.

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Belief-truth-knowledge!

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knowing that & knowing how
 Epistemology in general, the kind of knowledge
usually discussed is propositional knowledge,
also known as "knowledge-that" as opposed to
"know-how".
 For example: in mathematics, it is knowing that 2
+ 2 = 4, but there is also knowing how to add
two numbers. Or, one knows how to ride a
bicycle and one knows that a bicycle has two
wheels.

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Epistemology: Source of Knowledge

Epistemology

Empiricism Rationalism Skepticism Revelation

positivism

Logical positivism

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Rationalism
 Reliance on reason {Lat. ratio} as the only reliable
source of human knowledge. In the most general
application, rationalism offers a naturalistic alternative to
appeals to religious accounts of human nature and
conduct. More specifically, rationalism is the
epistemological theory that significant knowledge of the
world can best be achieved by a priori means; it
therefore stands in contrast to empiricism. Prominent
rationalists of the modern period include Descartes,
Spinoza, and Leibniz.

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Source of knowledge: Rationalism

 Rationalism believes that knowledge comes

from reason (innate idea), or the act of
reasoning.
 Réné Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, G. W. Leibniz,
and Blaise Pascal seek to retain the belief in the
existence of innate (a priori) ideas together
with an acceptance of the values of data and
ideas derived from experience (a posteriori).

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Rationalism
 we truly know only that of which we are
certain. Since sense experience cannot
guarantee certainty, reason alone must be the
means for getting knowledge
 Real knowledge about ourselves and the world
is a priori (prior to and independent of
experience). “Knowledge” gained from sense
experience (a posteriori) is guaranteed only by
appeal to reason
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Religion & Rationalism
 In religion, rationalism is the view that
recognizes as true only that content of faith that
can be made to appeal to reason. In the 18th
cent. rationalism produced a religion of its own
called deism (freethinker).
 Deists hold that the course of nature sufficiently
demonstrates the existence of God. For them
formal religion was superfluous, and they
scorned as spurious claims of supernatural
revelation.

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Empiricism
 Reliance on experience as the source of ideas
and knowledge. More specifically, empiricism is
the epistemological theory that genuine
information about the world must be acquired by
a posteriori means, so that nothing can be
thought without first being sensed. Prominent
modern empiricists include Bacon, Locke,
Berkeley, Hume, and Mill. In the twentieth
century, empiricism principles were extended
and applied by the pragmatists and the logical
positivists.
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Source of knowledge: Empiricism
 Philosophical doctrine that all knowledge is derived from
experience. For most empiricists, experience includes
inner experience—reflection upon the mind and its
operations—as well as sense perception.
 According to the empiricist, as expounded by John
Locke, David Hume, and John Stuart Mill, which denied
the existence of innate ideas altogether, all ideas are
derived from experience; therefore, knowledge of the
physical world can be nothing more than a
generalization from particular instances and can
never reach more than a high degree of probability.

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rational vs. empirical

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How do I know?

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Source of knowledge: Skepticism

 Some skeptics take this "alas (sad

expression), it doesn't seem that it can
be done" attitude, while others are quite
sure that knowledge is impossible.
Generally speaking, fallibilism
(weakness) can lead to skepticism

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Skepticism!
 From Greek [to reflect], philosophic position holding
that the possibility of knowledge is limited either
because of the limitations of the mind or because of
the inaccessibility of its object. It is more loosely used
to denote any questioning attitude
 Technically, the limitations of knowledge; a method of
obtaining knowledge through systematic doubt and
continual testing; the arbitrariness, relativity, or
subjectivity of moral values; a method of intellectual
caution and suspended judgment; a lack of confidence in
positive motives for human conduct or positive outcomes
for human enterprises, that is, cynicism and pessimism
(Keeton, 1962).

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Skepticism
 Belief that some or all human knowledge is impossible.
Since even our best methods for learning about the
world sometimes fall short of perfect certainty,
skeptics argue, it is better to suspend belief than to rely
on the dubitable products of reason. Classical skeptics
include Pyrrho and Sextus Empiricus. In the modern era,
Montaigne, Bayle, and Hume all advocated some form of
skeptical philosophy. Fallibilism is a more moderate
response to the lack of certainty

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History of Skepticism
 The first important skeptical view was held by Democritus, who
saw sense perception as no certain guide to objective reality.
The Sophists were the earliest group of skeptics. Protagoras
taught the relativity of knowledge, and Gorgias held that either
nothing could be known, or if anything were known, it could not
be communicated. Pyrrho, regarded as the father of skepticism,
later held a similarly extreme position, seeing reality as
inaccessible. Arcesilaus taught that certitude is impossible and
only probable knowledge is attainable
 In the Renaissance, For René Descartes skepticism was a
methodology that allowed him to arrive at certain incontrovertible
truths. David Hume, a leading modern skeptic, challenged
established assumptions about the self, substance, and
causality. The skeptical aspect of Immanuel Kant's philosophy is
exemplified by his agnosticism; his antinomies of reason
demonstrate that certain problems are insoluble by reason.
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Skepticism is true!

The sentence in this box is false

Skeptics are people who deny that any knowledge, or any knowledge within
certain domains, is possible. Radical skeptics may deny that even the most
obvious claims can be known to be true.

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Positivism
 Positivism, philosophical doctrine that denies any
validity to speculation or metaphysics. Sometimes
associated with empiricism, positivism maintains that
metaphysical questions are unanswerable and that
the only knowledge is scientific knowledge.
 The basic tenets of positivism are contained in an implicit
form in the works of Francis Bacon, George Berkeley,
and David Hume, but the term is specifically applied to
the system of Auguste Comte, who developed the
coherent doctrine. In addition to being a dominant theme
of 19th-century philosophy, positivism has greatly
influenced various trends of contemporary thought.
Logical positivism is often considered a direct outgrowth
of 19th-century positivism.
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Positivism
 Positivism is a philosophy that states that
the only authentic knowledge is scientific
knowledge, and that such knowledge
can only come from positive affirmation
of theories through strict scientific
method. It was developed by Auguste
Comte (widely regarded as the first true
sociologist) in the middle of the 19th
century.
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Positivism: features
 A focus on science as a product, a linguistic or
numerical set of statements;
 A concern with axiomatization, that is, with
demonstrating the logical structure and coherence
of these statements;
 An insistence on at least some of these statements
being testable, that is amenable to being verified,
confirmed, or falsified by the empirical observation
of reality; statements that would, by their nature, be
regarded as untestable included the teleological;
(Thus positivism rejects much of classical
metaphysics.)
 The belief that science is markedly cumulative;
predominantly transcultural
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Logical Positivism
 Twentieth-century philosophical movement that used a
strict principle of verifiability to reject as meaningless
the non-empirical statements of metaphysics, theology,
and ethics. Under the influence of Hume, Russell, and
the early Wittgenstein, the logical positivists regarded as
meaningful statements only reporting empirical
observations, taken together with the tautologies of
logic and mathematics. Prominent logical positivists
included members of the Vienna Circle and Ayer.

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Scientist Ideology
 The positivist view is sometimes referred to as a scientist
ideology, and is often shared by technocrats who believe in
the necessity of progress through scientific progress, and by
naturalists, who argue that any method for gaining knowledge
should be limited to natural, physical, and material
approaches. As an approach to the philosophy of science
deriving from Enlightenment thinkers like Pierre-Simon
Laplace (and many others), positivism was first systematically
theorized by Comte, who saw the scientific method as
replacing metaphysics in the history of thought, and who
observed the circular dependence of theory and observation
in science. Comte was thus one of the leading thinkers of the
social evolutionism thought.
 Positivism is the most evolved stage of society in
anthropological evolutionism, the point where science and
rational explanation for scientific phenomena develops.
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Positivism: features
 The belief that science rests on specific results that
are dissociated from the personality and social
position of the investigator;
 The belief that science contains theories or research
traditions that are largely commensurable;
 The belief that science sometimes incorporates new
ideas that are discontinuous from old ones;
 The belief that science involves the idea of the unity
of science, that there is, underlying the various
scientific disciplines, basically one science about
one real world.

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Revelation
 Etymology
 Middle English revelacioun, from Anglo-
French, from Late Latin revelation-, revelatio,
from Latin revelare to reveal First Known Use:
14th century

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Revelation
 Transmission of knowledge from a god or gods to humans. In
the Western monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam, revelation is the basis of religious knowledge.
Humans know God and his will because God has chosen to
reveal himself to them. He may communicate with his chosen
servants through dreams, visions, or physical manifestations
and may inspire prophets who relay his message to the
people. His will may also be translated directly into writing
through the handing down of divine law (e.g., the Ten
Commandments) or scripture (e.g., the Bible and the Qur'an).
Other religions emphasize “cosmic” revelation, in which any
and all aspects of the world may reveal the nature of a single
underlying divine power (e.g., Brahman in the Vedas).

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Practical application of
Epistemology
 Far from being purely academic, the study of
epistemology is useful for a great many
applications. It is particularly commonly
employed in issues of law where proof of guilt or
innocence may be required, or when it must be
determined whether a person knew a particular
fact before taking a specific action (e.g., whether
an action was premeditated).

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Epistemological Theory

Theory of knowledge

Empiricism Rationalism Skepticism

tabula rasa Inner idea doubt

experience reasoning

posteriori priori

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 Summary of Human knowledge
Area Rationalism Empiricism Revelation
Kind of Priori (eternal) Posteriori (change); Revealed/disclosed
information Independent to dependent to by God
senses senses
Mind/reason/ Innate or build-in Tabula Rasa Created by God
aqal idea
Method of Intellectual Sensation - Human Revelations - self-
acquiring truth intuition-reasoning experience truth knowledge
Type of knowledge rational Trans-rational
Type of approach Believe that – an human prepositional @ Believe in - a event
assertion of God’s disclosure
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The Value of Wisdom!

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reference
 Kessler, Gary E. Voices of Wisdom: A Multicultural
Philosophy Reader. California: Wadsworth Publishing
Company (p.260-300)
 Pojman, Louis P. Introduction to Philosophy: Classical
and Contemporary Readings. California: Wadsworth
Publishing Company (p.31-152)
 Philosophy Comix:
http://members.aol.com/lshauser/phlcomix.html#history
 http://www.oliverbenjamin.net/philo3.html
 http://www.cartoonbank.com/
 http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/r.htm#ratm
 http://shrdocs.com/presentations/13493/index.html

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