1. Introduction to Epistemology
Chapter 14
Introduction to Epistemology

2. Knowledge, Opinion, and Belief
When you know something you not only have an opinion, but that opinion is true:
That is, it coincides with reality
“What is the difference between knowledge and mere opinion?”
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3. Knowledge, Opinion, and Belief
It seems intuitively clear that where we believe something which we do not know:
That belief could be false, whereas when we truly know something it could not be false
Can a person believe something which is false? Sure
Can a person know something that is false?
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4. Knowledge and Certainty
Knowledge implies being sure, being certain
Part of our greater confidence in the truth of what we claim to know arises from:
The fact that we have better reasons for believing our information to be true
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5. Knowledge and Certainty
Sometimes we deny that a person knows something, though it turns out to be true:
Simply because the person’s reasons for believing it were not good enough
The human dilemma regarding knowledge is that we cannot easily distinguish:
What is true from what we merely think is true
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6. Epistemology and Psychology
Both epistemology and psychology are concerned with human consciousness:
And it might at first appear that epistemology is only trying to do what psychology:
Is in a position to do better
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7. Epistemology and Psychology
Psychology is an attempt to describe the way the human mind actually operates;
Epistemology seeks to establish normative criteria for how we ought to think
Epistemology is concerned with discovering a sure guide to truth
But what is truth?
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8. Epistemology and Psychology
A defender of a correspondence theory of truth will want you to believe that:
All matters of truth must be so decided
Epistemology is also important in philosophy because it serves as:
A bridge to other philosophical issues
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9. Sources of Knowledge
The core belief of rationalism is that a priori knowledge of reality is possible:
And provides our deepest insight into the nature of what exists:
Where a priori knowledge is knowledge that is not grounded in or derived from sense experience
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10. Sources of Knowledge
Plato believed that there are truths we know that are certain and unchanging
Much of Aristotle’s work was devoted to acquiring knowledge of the natural world:
By critically reflecting on the information provided by sense experience
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