page_title: Philosophy
section_title: Epistemology
hierarchical_section_title: Philosophy / Branches of philosophy / Epistemology, metaphysics, and related branches / Epistemology
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Статуя Дигнаги, Золотая обитель Будды Шакьямуни, Элиста, Калмыкия
context_page_description: Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. The term was probably coined by Pythagoras. Philosophical methods include questioning, critical discussion, rational argument, and systematic presentation.
  Classic philosophical questions include: "Is it possible to know anything?", and if so, "Can we prove it?" Philosophers also pose more practical and concrete questions such as: "Is there a best way to live?", "Is it better to be just, even if one could get away with being unjust?", 'do humans have free will?'
  Historically, philosophy encompassed all bodies of knowledge. From the time of Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle to the 19th century, "natural philosophy" encompassed astronomy, medicine, and physics. For example, Newton's 1687 Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy later became classified as a book of physics.
  In the 19th century, the growth of modern research universities led academic philosophy and other disciplines to professionalize and specialize.
context_section_description: Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that studies knowledge. Epistemologists examine putative sources of knowledge, including perceptual experience, reason, memory, and testimony. They also investigate questions about the nature of truth, belief, justification, and rationality.
  One of the most notable epistemological debates in the early modern period was between empiricism and rationalism. Empiricism places emphasis on observational evidence via sensory experience as the source of knowledge. Empiricism is associated with a posteriori knowledge, which is obtained through experience (such as scientific knowledge). Rationalism places emphasis on reason as a source of knowledge. Rationalism is associated with a priori knowledge, which is independent of experience (such as logic and mathematics).
  Philosophical skepticism, which raises doubts some or all claims to knowledge, has been a topic of interest throughout the history of philosophy. Philosophical skepticism dates back thousands of years to ancient philosophers like Pyrrho, and features prominently in the works of modern philosophers René Descartes and David Hume. Skepticism has remained a central topic in contemporary epistemological debates.
  One central debate in contemporary epistemology is about the conditions required for a belief to constitute knowledge, which might include truth and justification. This debate was largely the result of attempts to solve the Gettier problem. Another common subject of contemporary debates is the regress problem, which occurs when trying to offer proof or justification for any belief, statement, or proposition. The problem is that whatever the source of justification may be, that source must either be without justification (in which case it must be treated as an arbitrary foundation for belief), or it must have some further justification (in which case justification must either be the result of circular reasoning, as in coherentism, or the result of an infinite regress, as in infinitism).
caption: Dignaga founded a school of Buddhist epistemology and logic.
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