I suppose many are in the position of knowing that epistemology is a branch of philosophy, but not knowing anything beyond that. (Well, not knowing anything furtherabout what epistemology is -- let's not get into general skepticism just yet!) The standard very short answer to our title question is that epistemology is the theory of knowledge. In fact, so far as I can tell, "epistemology" and "theory of knowledge" are used interchangeably in, for instance, college course catalogues. Epistemology, then, is the branch of philosophy that deals with questions concerning the nature, scope, and sources of knowledge. In what follows, I'll briefly describe a few of the issues epistemologists deal with. That should give you a bit better idea of what epistemology is, and, for those considering taking an epistemology class, what to expect from such a class. For those interested in further reading, there are links at the bottom of this page to articles that are introductory in nature (mostly from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, a great on-line resource) on particular topics in epistemology.
1. Under what Conditions Does One Know?: The Analysis of Knowledge.
Since epistemology is the theory of knowledge, a central question of the area is: Under what conditions does a subject know something to be the case? Most general epistemology classes (as opposed to specialized advanced courses that zero in on a particular epistemological topic) spend at least some time on this question, and many begin with it.
A very important paper on this topic -- perhaps the most commonly assigned paper in epistemology classes -- is Edmund Gettier's short classic, "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?" (Analysis 23 (1963): 121-123 [in the journal Ana
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