EPISTEMOLOGY AT A GLANCE

The subject matter of Epistemology (Theory of Knowledge) is human knowledge; its nature, origin, scope and justification. It probes into the meaning and nature of human knowledge. It reflects on issues such as truth and justification which constitute for some scholars, the criteria qualifying any belief to count as knowledge. It also examines and attempts to set out the possibility of knowledge and foundations of certainty of knowledge. Epistemology is closely related to employs data received from Metaphysics in its study of human knowledge. The Regress Problem arises, considering the question of the logical foundations of human knowledge. Responses to this problem gave rise to different paradigms of thought— Coherentism, Foundationalism, Infinitism and Foundherentism. Finally, the question arises whether or not knowledge is even possible, given the difficulty in satisfying the condition of epistemic certainty which is at the heart of the definition of knowledge itself. This gave rise to the problem of Philosophic Skepticism which is almost as old as Philosophy itself and remains an intractable epistemological problem. Arguments raised against skepticism include the Polar Argument and the Paradigm Case Argument.

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