Epistemology
noun /ɪˌpɪstɪˈmɒlədʒi/ — The study of how we know what we know.
Definition
The branch of philosophy that studies the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge; the question of what it means to know something.
Beyond the definition
One of the most fundamental philosophical questions made into a word. In an age of information overload, epistemology — the discipline of asking 'how do I know this is true?' — may be the most practically urgent area of philosophy.
Origin & history
From Greek episteme 'knowledge' + logos 'study.' The systematic study of knowledge itself.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
The course opened with epistemology — before tackling big questions, we had to ask what it meant to know.
Post-truth politics is fundamentally an epistemological crisis.
Good scientists are practicing epistemology every time they design an experiment.
How to use it
This entry uses a noun. Follow the examples for articles and singular or plural forms; not every noun takes “a” or “an.”
Choose “Epistemology” when the meaning fits your context: The branch of philosophy that studies the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge; the question of what it means to know something.
Synonyms
theory of knowledge, philosophy of knowledge
Antonyms
dogmatism, credulity
Related words
Epistemology vs ontology
Epistemology asks how we know what we know and defines the limits of knowledge. Ontology focuses on the nature of existence and what categories of things actually exist.
Word in the Wild
Illustrative story: an imagined scene, not a documented event or interview.
A doctoral student in philosophy described the week she started reading Descartes properly — not the summary in a textbook, but the actual Meditations. She sat with it for three days and emerged, she said, slightly unmoored.
"I thought I knew what I knew," she said. "Then I started asking how I knew it. And then how I knew that. And I couldn't find the bottom."
She has been studying the question for eleven years. She has found a great deal of interesting structure and no bottom. She considers this progress.
Questions about this word
What does "Epistemology" mean?
Epistemology is noun meaning: The study of how we know what we know.. The branch of philosophy that studies the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge; the question of what it means to know something.
Which words express “questioning how we know things”?
Epistemology — The study of how we know what we know.
Where does the word "Epistemology" come from?
From Greek episteme 'knowledge' + logos 'study.' The systematic study of knowledge itself.