Epistemology

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Revision as of 08:50, 5 September 2007 by imported>Tom Major (added another sentence to complete the thought)
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Epistemology (from Greek ἐπιστήμη, or episteme, knowledge; and λόγος, or logos, a study or account) is also called Theory of Knowledge. A philosophical discipline, epistemology deals with broad questions: what is knowledge? Is certainty required for knowledge, and what is certainty anyway? From what sources--sense-perception, say, or revelation--do we derive knowledge? Our beliefs can have more or less justification, warrant, or evidence--and these features seem, roughly speaking, required for knowledge. So what are they? Some thinkers doubt that we have any, or very much, knowledge at all. On what grounds can we embrace, or reject, such skepticism? Surely if you are intensely thinking that you have no knowledge, that is certainly a contradiction!