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 Epistemology
In this course, we are concerned
with the nature of knowledge, and principles of inquiry
to acquire knowledge. We refer to the process of
studying and clarifying the nature of knowledge, understanding
its various manifestations, and defining means of its
acquisition as epistemology.
Scruton (1995) defines knowledge as
"justified true belief." To know something, it has
to be true, and it has to be justified. Whether one must
believe it or not, however, is subject of dispute among
philosophers.
As Scruton put it:
John knows p if and only
if:
(i) John believes that p;
(ii) It is true that p;
(iii) John's belief that p is
justified.
The course, therefore, will concentrate
on how we ascertain and justify the truthfulness of our
knowledge through various methods of inquiry. As such, the
course is interested in various kinds of knowledge, and
various means of its acquisition, and justification.
The ultimate
goal is to enable students to define an area of inquiry, which
interests them the most, and gain the ability to select
the best method of inquiry to ascertain and justify the
knowledge acquired by such inquiry.
World Views
Philosophy as a discipline, and a method
of inquiry defined the world's collective knowledge until the scientific revolution of the 17th century.
Until then, most philosophers; women and men of knowledge had
a holistic view of the world, which included science and art.
People of knowledge practiced in science, wrote poetry, played
music, and dabbled in politics.
Defining the scientific method, about 300
years ago, meant the ability to replicate scientific inquiry
throughout the world, and a rapid increase in kinds and volume
of knowledge. Philosophy was, and in many cases still
is, the point of departure for inquiry, but physics,
chemistry, biology, geology as well as social sciences have
branched out of philosophy, and defined themselves as distinct
and in parallel to philosophy, rendering it to the status of
just another discipline.
Art has also branched from philosophy, to
the point that in 1959 the British novelist, scientist, and
government administrator, Charles Percy Snow in his
controversial book titled ; The Two Cultures and the
Scientific Revolution asserted artists and scientists have
grown so much apart that neither understand the other anymore.
Snow, subsequently warned of a major breach in two of these
most important branches of Western culture.
In this brief overview, we have
identified, philosophy, science, and art as distinct forms of
knowledge. In the next module, we will turn to the methods of
inquiry in each of them.
References
Scruton, R. (1995). Modern philosophy: An introduction
and survey. NY: The Penguin Group.
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