epistemology

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἐπιστήμη (epistḗmē, “science, knowledge”), from ἐπίσταμαι (epístamai, “I know”) + -λογία (-logía, “discourse”), from λόγος (lógos, “Study, explanation”). The term was introduced into English by the Scottish philosopher James Frederick Ferrier (1808-1864).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪˌpɪs.təˈmɒl.ə.d͡ʒi/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪˌpɪs.təˈmɑl.ə.d͡ʒi/, /əˌpɪs.təˈmɑl.ə.d͡ʒi/, /ɛˌpɪs.təˈmɑl.ə.d͡ʒi/, /iˌpɪs.təˈmɑl.ə.d͡ʒi/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (AUS) IPA^(key): /ɛˌpɪs.tiˈmɔl.ə.d͡ʒi/
• Rhymes: -ɒlədʒi

Noun

epistemology (countable and uncountable, plural epistemologies)

1. (uncountable) The branch of philosophy dealing with the study of knowledge; the theory of knowledge, asking such questions as "What is knowledge?", "How is knowledge acquired?", "What do people know?", "How do we know what we know?", "How do we know it is true?", and so on.

   Synonyms: epistemics, kenlore, metaknowledge

   Some thinkers take the view that, beginning with the work of Descartes, epistemology began to replace metaphysics as the most important area of philosophy.

   • 2014 April 12, Michael Inwood, “Martin Heidegger: The philosopher who fell for Hitler [print version: Hitler’s philosopher]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review section)‎^[1], London, page R10:

     [P]hilosophers of the time [early 20th century] were primarily concerned with epistemology and the foundations of the sciences; they often spoke as if we were separated from the real world by a screen of "representations" or "sense-data"; they tended to regard our approach to the world as one of disinterested observation.

2. (countable) A particular instance, version, or school thereof; a particular theory of knowledge.

   In his epistemology, Plato maintains that our knowledge of universal concepts is a kind of recollection.

   • 1995, Colin McLarty, “Preface”, in Elementary Categories, Elementary Toposes, →ISBN, page vii:

     I believe that 'intuitionism' is usually, and rightly, taken to mean Brouwer's epistemology of mathematics, which is unrelated to the origin or content of topos theory.

Derived terms

• epistemologic
• epistemological
• epistemologically
• epistemologist
• metaepistemology
• telepistemology

Related terms

Related terms

• episteme
• epistemic
• epistemically
• epistemic crisis
• epistemic regime
• epistemics
• epistemonical

Translations

branch of philosophy dealing with the study of knowledge

• Afrikaans: epistemologie, kennisleer, kennisteorie
• Albanian: epistemologji f
• Arabic: إِبِسْتِمُولُوجِيَّا f (ʔibistimolojiyyā), نَظَرِيَّةْ اَلمَعْرِفَة f (naẓariyyat al-maʕrifa)
• Aragonese: epistemolochía f
• Armenian: իմացաբանություն (hy) (imacʻabanutʻyun)
• Asturian: epistemoloxía f
• Azerbaijani: epistemologiya
• Bashkir: эпистемология (epistemologiya)
• Basque: epistemologia (eu)
• Bavarian: Epistemologie f
• Belarusian: эпістэмало́гія f (epistemalóhija)
• Bengali: জ্ঞানতত্ত্ব (bn) (gênototto)
• Breton: epistemologiezh f
• Bulgarian: епистемология f (epistemologija)
• Burmese: အက်ပီစတမ်မိုလော်ဂျီ (akpica.tammuilaugyi)
• Catalan: epistemologia (ca) f
• Cebuano: epistemolohiya
• Chechen: эпистемология (epistemologija)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 知識論／知识论 (zi¹ sik¹ lun⁶), 認識論／认识论 (jing⁶ sik¹ lun⁶)

  Hokkien: 知識論／知识论 (tì-sek-lūn), 認識論／认识论 (jīn-sek-lūn)

  Mandarin: 知識論／知识论 (zh) (zhīshilùn, zhīshìlùn), 認識論／认识论 (zh) (rènshilùn, rènshìlùn)

• Czech: epistemologie (cs) f
• Danish: epistemologi c, erkendelsesteori c
• Dutch: kennistheorie (nl) f, epistemologie (nl) f, kennisleer (nl) f
• Esperanto: sciteorio, epistemologio
• Estonian: epistemoloogia
• Finnish: tietoteoria (fi)
• French: épistémologie (fr) f
• Galician: epistemoloxía (gl) f
• Georgian: ეპისტემოლოგია (ka) (eṗisṭemologia)
• German: Erkenntnistheorie (de) f, Epistemologie (de) f

  Alemannic German: Epistemologii f, Erkenntnistheorii f

• Greek: επιστημολογία (el) (epistimología)
• Guaraní: marandukuaaty
• Gujarati: જ્ઞાનમીમાંસા f (jñānmīmā̃sā)
• Hebrew: אֶפִּיסְטֵמוֹלוֹגְיָה (he) f (epistemológya)
• Hindi: ज्ञानमीमांसा f (jñānmīmānsā)
• Hungarian: episztemológia (hu), ismeretelmélet (hu)
• Icelandic: þekkingarfræði (is) f
• Ido: epistemologio (io)
• Ilocano: epistomolohia
• Indonesian: epistemologi (id)
• Interlingua: epistemologia
• Irish: eipistéimeolaíocht f
• Italian: epistemologia (it) f
• Jamaican Creole: epistemalaji
• Japanese: 認識論 (ja) (にんしきろん, ninshikiron)
• Javanese: épistémologi
• Kabiyé: epistemolozii
• Kannada: ಜ್ಞಾನಮೀಮಾಂಸೆ (jñānamīmāṃse)
• Kazakh: эпистемология (épistemologiä), таным теориясы (tanym teoriäsy)
• Khmer: ជ្ញានវិទ្យា (cɲean vityie)
• Korean: 인식론(認識論) (ko) (insingnon)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: zanînzanî (ku) f, epîstemolojî f

• Kyrgyz: эпистемология (ky) (epistemologiya)
• Lao: ຍານວິທະຍາ (nyān wi tha nyā)
• Latin: epistemologia f
• Latvian: epistemoloģija f
• Limburgish: epistemologie f, kènnistheorie f
• Lithuanian: epistemologija f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Epistemologie f, Kennistheorie f

• Luxembourgish: Epistemologie f
• Macedonian: епистемологија f (epistemologija)
• Malagasy: epistemolojia (mg)
• Malay: epistemologi
• Malayalam: വിജ്ഞാനശാസ്ത്രം (vijñānaśāstraṁ)
• Maltese: epistemoloġija f
• Manx: epistemoaylleeaght f
• Mirandese: eipistemologie f
• Nepali: प्रमाणशास्त्र (pramāṇaśāstra)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: epistemologi (no) m, vitenskapsteori m, erkjennelsesteori m

  Nynorsk: epistemologi m, erkjenningsteori m

• Occitan: epistemologia (oc) f
• Oromo: ippistimooloojii
• Persian: معرفت‌شناسی (ma'refat-šenâsi)
• Piedmontese: epistemologìa f
• Polish: epistemologia (pl) f, gnoseologia (pl) f, teoria poznania f
• Portuguese: epistemologia (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਗਿਆਨਮੀਮਾਂਸਾ f (giānamīmānsā)
• Romanian: epistemologie (ro) f
• Russian: эпистемоло́гия (ru) f (epistemológija)
• Saterland Frisian: Epistemologie f
• Scottish Gaelic: eipisteim-eòlas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: епистемоло̀гија f

  Roman: epistemològija (sh) f

• Sicilian: epistemoluggìa f
• Slovak: epistemológia f
• Slovene: epistemologija f
• Spanish: gnoseología (es) f, epistemología (es) f
• Swahili: epistemolojia class 9/10
• Swedish: kunskapsteori c, epistemologi (sv) c
• Tagalog: alaman, dalub-alaman, epistemolohiya
• Tajik: эпистемология (epistemologiya)
• Tamil: அறிவாய்வியல் (aṟivāyviyal)
• Telugu: జ్ఞానమీమాంస (jñānamīmāṁsa)
• Thai: ญาณวิทยา (th) (yaa-ná-wít-tá-yaa)
• Turkish: epistemoloji (tr), bilgi kuramı (tr)
• Ukrainian: епістемоло́гія f (epistemolóhija)
• Urdu: علمیات f ('ilmiyāt)
• Uzbek:

  Cyrillic: эпистемология (epistemologiya)

  Roman: epistemologiya

• Vietnamese: nhận thức luận (vi) (認識論)
• Võro: epistemoloogia, tiidmisteooria
• Waray-Waray: epistemolohiya
• Welsh: epistemoleg f, epistemeg f
• Yakut: эпистемология (epistemologiya)
• Yiddish: עפּיסטעמאָלאָגיע f (epistemologye)

particular theory of knowledge

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 理論／理论 (zh) (lǐlùn)

• Czech: epistemologie (cs) f
• Finnish: tietoteoria (fi)
• Irish: eipistéimeolaíocht f
• Khmer: ទ្រឹស្ដីញាណ (trɨhsdəy ɲien)
• Portuguese: epistemologia (pt) f
• Russian: эпистемоло́гия (ru) f (epistemológija)

Further reading

• epistemology on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “epistemology”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “epistemology”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “epistemology”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.