Theory of Knowledge

Catalog description

Epistemology focuses on three central philosophical questions: "What is knowledge?", "What can we know?", and "How do we know what we know?" In addition to their role in our daily lives, these questions are central to almost every discipline include the sciences, history, and philosophy itself. This course is an extended investigation into the nature of knowledge, understanding, and justification. We will look at a number of debates including skepticism, relativism, the value of knowledge, the nature of understanding, scientific knowledge, scientific realism, naturalistic epistemology, feminist epistemology, testimonial knowledge, and pragmatic influences on knowledge. The aim of this course is to develop a sense of how these concepts and theories interrelate, and to instill philosophical skills in the critical evaluation of them.