Epistemology

Introduction
The nature of epistemology
- Epistemology as a discipline
- Two epistemological problems
  - Knowledge of the external world
  - The other-minds problem
Issues in epistemology
- The nature of knowledge
- Five distinctions
  - Mental and nonmental conceptions of knowledge
  - Occasional and dispositional knowledge
  - A priori and a posteriori knowledge
    - Necessary and contingent propositions
    - Analytic and synthetic propositions
    - Tautological and significant propositions
    - Logical and factual propositions
    - Necessary a posteriori propositions
  - Description and justification
  - Knowledge and certainty
- The origins of knowledge
  - Innate and acquired knowledge
  - Rationalism and empiricism
- Skepticism
The history of epistemology
- Ancient philosophy
  - The pre-Socratics
  - Plato
  - Aristotle
  - Ancient Skepticism
  - St. Augustine
- Medieval philosophy
  - St. Anselm of Canterbury
  - St. Thomas Aquinas
  - John Duns Scotus
  - William of Ockham
  - Scientific theology to secular science
- Modern philosophy
  - Faith and reason
  - Epistemology and modern science
  - René Descartes
  - John Locke
  - George Berkeley
  - David Hume
    - Kinds of perception
    - Relations of ideas and matters of fact
    - Cause and effect
    - Substance
  - Immanuel Kant
  - G.W.F. Hegel
- Contemporary philosophy
  - Continental epistemology
  - Analytic epistemology
    - Commonsense philosophy, logical positivism, and naturalized epistemology
    - Perception and knowledge
    - Realism
    - Phenomenalism
    - Later analytic epistemology

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

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Marble bust of Aristotle with a beard and draped robe, showing detailed facial features and wavy hair, set against a dark background.

Christian bishop and theologian St. Augustine

Luca della Robbia: St. Anselm of Canterbury

Andrea da Firenze: The Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas

At a Glance

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epistemology summary

Epistemology

philosophy

Also known as: gnosiology, theory of knowledge

Written by

Avrum StrollAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 1, 2026 •History

Epistemology, the philosophical study of the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge. The term is derived from the Greek epistēmē (“knowledge”) and logos (“reason”), and accordingly the field is sometimes referred to as the theory of knowledge. Epistemology has a long history within Western philosophy, beginning with the ancient Greeks and continuing to the present. Along with metaphysics, logic, and ethics, it is one of the four main branches of philosophy, and nearly every...

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