Epistemology, as the branch of philosophy that studies knowledge, has many specific terms. Here's a very useful glossary I found as part of my research for evolving Product Discovery concepts.

192 Terms in Epistemology 💡

Knowledge that is dependent on, or gained through, sense experience. A posteriori truths are truths known after experience.

a posteriori knowledge

Knowledge gained without sense experience. A priori truths are truths known prior to experience.

a priori knowledge

A type of reasoning that attempts to form the best explanation of available data.

abduction

ability (procedural) knowledge

Knowing a person, place, or thing.

acquaintance knowledge

The study of ignorance, especially when ignorance is caused or influenced by groups who have an interest in that ignorance.

agnotology

An argument put forward by the first-century Pyrrhonist philosopher Agrippa for global skepticism about justification (and hence knowledge). This argument begins with the observation that, for a belief B to be justified, the chain of reasons ultimately leading to B must have one of three possible structures: the chain is either (a) finite and linear, (b) circular, or (c) infinite. The next step is to argue that each possible structure is problematic, then draw the conclusion that there is no possible way for a belief to be justified.

Agrippan trilemma

A truth that holds in virtue of the meanings of the words in a sentence (and the sentence’s logical form). In an analytic sentence, the predicate term is contained in, or is the meaning of, the subject term. Therefore, analytic truths are true by definition.

analytic truth

The attachment of meaning to a perceptual input based on our past and present experiences and concepts.

apperception

The “turn,” or major shift, among many epistemologists toward an emphasis on real-world applications (e.g., in politics, education, and everyday life).

applied turn

axiology

Ignoring a prior probability (or base rate) when determining a posterior probability.

base-rate fallacy

A belief that is not formed on the basis of any other belief(s).

basic belief

A formula in probability theory attributed to Reverend Thomas Bayes. The formula is used by Bayesians to describe how to update the probability of a hypothesis H given new evidence E:P(H|E) = [{P(E|H) ∙ P(H)}/P(E)], where P(E) ≠ 0.

Bayes’s theorem

The study of knowledge and justified belief within a degreed framework using formal methods, especially probability theory with emphasis on Bayes’s theorem.

In the context of this book (unless otherwise specified), “belief” refers to “belief-that,” which is the acceptance of a proposition’s truth. In other contexts, “belief” can refer to “belief-in,” which need not have a proposition as its object (e.g., “I believe in you.”). In contrast to belief-that, belief-in is not purely cognitive but has an affective component (e.g., hope or trust).

belief

The acceptance of a proposition’s truth.

belief-that

The view combining what strong foundationalists believe with the claim that non-foundational beliefs are justified only via deduction from justified foundational beliefs.

Cartesian foundationalism

“It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.” The principle as defended by W. K. Clifford is considered an impermissivist statement of an evidentialist ethics of belief.

Clifford’s principle

The study of the epistemic properties of groups and their beliefs.

collective epistemology

An idea formed by combining multiple simple ideas or impressions. For example, the complex idea “diamond street” is formed by putting simpler ideas into relation: a street made of diamonds.

complex idea

A general idea of something which allows us to recognize it as belonging to a category, distinguish it from other things, and think about it. For example, to have the concept “table” is to be able to think about tables, distinguish them from other types of furniture, and recognize tables upon encountering them.

concept

The breaking down of a concept into more basic conceptual components, arranged to form a definition.

In a disagreement about a proposition p, a person S1 conciliates when S1 changes their attitude toward p in the direction of S2’s attitude toward p.

conciliate

The view that whenever one discovers that an epistemic peer disagrees about some proposition p, one is justified in conciliating. So, for example, if S1 confidently believes p and discovers that their peer S2 believes p is false with the same degree of confidence, then S1 will be justified in decreasing their confidence about p.

conciliationism

Typically written in the form P(A|B), it is the probability that A obtains given that B obtains.

conditional probability

The process of moving from an absolute probability, such as P(A), to a conditional probability, such as P(A|B). By doing so, one “conditionalizes on B.”

conditionalization (or conditioning)

A family of views about knowledge and the word “know.” According to contextualism, the standards required for you to count as knowing something vary from context to context. Contextualists often argue that skepticism is correct in some contexts but incorrect in other contexts. That is, in some contexts, the high standards required of knowledge by skeptics are appropriate, and so in those contexts we fail to know. But in other contexts, the standards required for knowledge are laxer, and there we can know many things.

contextualism

When applied to claims, statements, or propositions, the term “contingent” refers to that which is possibly true and possibly false, not necessary. For example, it is a contingent truth that crows are black, since they are black but could have been white. The claim that crows are white is a contingent falsehood, since it happens to be false but could have been true.

contingent

The view that a proposition is true when it corresponds to reality and false otherwise.

correspondence theory

Examples that refutes a claim or argument.

counterexamples

credences

A form of reasoning in which the truth of the premises logically guarantees the truth of the conclusion.

deduction

That which cancels justification (a justification defeater) or knowledge (a knowledge defeater).

A degree of confidence (or credence) that a person places in the truth of a proposition.

degree of belief

The belief that the corresponding proposition is false.

disbelief

People in positions of relatively high social power and privilege in relation to knowledge. Dominantly situated knowers are vulnerable to ignorance because their positions of power may make them epistemically “spoiled,” limit their knowledge, and offer limited incentive to expand their epistemic resources beyond what is designated as “mainstream.” See also gatekeepers, power-based ignorance.

Stances on the truth value of a proposition (belief, disbelief, or suspension of judgment).

doxastic attitudes

The kind of responsibility someone has for what they believe.

doxastic responsibility

A set of bets that, when accepted, yields a guaranteed loss.

Dutch book

An argument showing that rational credences must adhere to the laws of probability (based on the premise that rationality requires avoiding Dutch books).

Dutch book argument

Based on observation or experience.

empirical

The philosophical position according to which all our beliefs and knowledge are based on experience. Empiricism is opposed to rationalism.

empiricism

The Greek word for “knowledge” or “understanding” from which the term “epistemology” derives.

epistêmê

Pertaining to knowledge.

epistemic

The view that the aim of democracy is (in part) to favor a true outcome (with voting answering a question such as, “which candidate is best to lead?”).

epistemic democracy

Wrongdoing related to knowledge. This includes individual interpersonal interactions that demonstrate injustice, as well as larger structures of inequity in knowledge distribution or knowledge production sustained in institutions such as the legal system, medicine, and education.

epistemic injustice

The kind of justification necessary for knowledge, requiring good epistemic reasons.

epistemic justification

Any kind of luck that positively or negatively affects one’s epistemic status.

epistemic luck

Any practice that interferes with the inquiry of some or all persons, without their consent/consultation, for their own purported epistemic health or improvement.

Epistemic peers with respect to a proposition p are equally likely to believe the truth about p (i.e., each is just as unbiased, intelligent, sober, well-informed, etc.).

epistemic peer

Truth-indicative reasons—the kind necessary for epistemic justification.

epistemic reasons

An axiological thesis that denies the T-monist claim that the natural aim of belief is truth. To the pluralist, finding no straightforward hierarchy among epistemic goods suggests an un-unified order of values or even an array of epistemic goods.

epistemic value pluralism

The study of the aims of cognition, and the value of epistemic states (knowledge, understanding, belief, suspension, etc.) and standings (justified, unjustified, etc.).

epistemological axiology

Ways of knowing that resist the exclusive dominance of “mainstream” epistemologies and the unjust social power dynamics that those epistemologies tend to reflect and reinforce. Instead, epistemologies of resistance are structured to meet epistemic needs of marginalized people. They include but are not limited to feminist epistemologies.

epistemologies of resistance

The branch of philosophy traditionally defined as the study of knowledge. However, many epistemologists gradually deemphasized or abandoned the study of knowledge per se, focusing instead on other topics that nevertheless pertain to knowledge, even if only in some loose or indirect way. Expanding the traditional definition to accommodate this shift, epistemology can be understood as the study of the epistemic.

epistemology

The philosophical project of providing guidance for morally and intellectually responsible doxa (belief, opinion), including how one should respond to recognized peer disagreement.

ethics of belief

The information available to a person (an “indication of truth to a person”).

evidence

Roughly, the principle that, whenever some person S1 has some evidence that S2 has some evidence in support of p, then S1 has some evidence in support of p.

evidence of evidence principle (EEP)

Epistemologists who think that justification is entirely a matter of a person’s evidence.

evidentialists

René Descartes’s methodological supposal that a powerful evil demon is deceiving one as much as it is possible for one to be deceived.

evil demon hypothesis

Epistemologists who think justification is a matter of which propositions provide the best explanations for a person.

explanationists

A feature of a hypothesis that improves its quality as an explanation of the available data (other things being equal). An example of such a feature is simplicity, according to Ockham’s razor. By contrast, an explanatory vice is a feature of a hypothesis that reduces its quality as an explanation (other things being equal). If simplicity is an explanatory virtue, then unnecessary complexity in a hypothesis is the corresponding explanatory vice.

explanatory virtue

Objects in the external world, the world external to our minds.

external objects

The world external to our minds, containing external objects.

external world

A variety of skepticism that denies we can have knowledge of objects that exist independently of our experiences of them. An external-world skeptic may gladly admit that you know, for example, that you are having an experience of a dog, but will deny that you can know on that basis that the dog actually exists. A stock-in-trade argument for this type of skepticism uses carefully crafted skeptical hypotheses as a means of undercutting what you take yourself to know on the basis of experience.

external-world skepticism

The view that justification is contingent on features of a person’s mind plus features external to a person’s mind.

externalism

That which entails the truth of its propositional object.

factive

The view that justification does not entail truth.

The view that knowledge-level justification (the level required for knowledge, which is perhaps more stringent than ordinary justification) does not entail truth.

fallibilism (about knowledge)

An umbrella of epistemologies that value plurality, encompassing a wide variety of ideas about knowledge including several recurrent themes: situated knowledge, standpoint, lived experience, the collaborative construction of knowledge, the bearing of power on knowledge, and the responsibilities that come with knowledge. Topics in feminist epistemologies commonly intersect with other significant conversations in epistemology, such as queer epistemologies, trans epistemologies, crip (disability) epistemologies, Indigenous epistemologies, religion-specific epistemologies etc.

feminist epistemologies

The law of probability stating that if two probabilities, P(A) and P(B), are mutually exclusive, the probability that either A or B obtains is the sum of their individual probabilities: P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B). In other words, P(A or B) is “additive.”

finite additivity

The branch of epistemology that utilizes formal methods, such as logic, set theory, and probability.

formal epistemology

The “turn,” or major shift, among many epistemologists toward the use of “formal” methods (borrowed from linguistics, logic, and mathematics) in an effort to make the field more rigorous.

formal turn

A belief that is not formed on the basis of any other belief(s).

Epistemologists who think justification has a structure consisting of justified foundational (a.k.a. basic) beliefs that serve as the epistemic foundation for any justified non-basic beliefs.

foundationalists

Systematically undermining someone’s confidence in their own credibility by denying or minimizing their memories, feelings, or perceptions.

gaslighting

People who have power to define what “counts” as valid knowledge. This might include defining the “core curriculum,” determining what is a “reliable” source, or affirming which texts are “classics” in a field. In academic life, this might include professors, librarians, and publishers. See also dominantly situated knowers, power-based ignorance.

gatekeepers

The problem for process reliabilism of specifying the relevant process type for any given belief so that its justificatory status can be assessed.

generality problem

Cases of the sort made famous by epistemologist Edmund Gettier. Such a case occurs when an element of bad epistemic luck is canceled by good epistemic luck, so that it is a justified true belief but not knowledge.

Gettier cases

The problem of how to handle Gettier cases in the analysis of knowledge.

Gettier problem

The denial that we have any knowledge, including the denial that we can know that skepticism is true.

global skepticism

The kind of knowledge that requires more than mere correct opinion.

A gap in the resources for understanding, defining, or organizing knowledge provided by a particular hermeneutic.

hermeneutical gap

A type of epistemic injustice related to how knowledge is constructed. These injustices may relate to structures or frameworks for understanding that leave out or “sideline” some experiences while centering others. These might also relate to access (or limits on access) to resources for knowledge and information. A central question to ask related to hermeneutical injustice is: Whose realities do the available resources for understanding (hermeneutical resources) reflect—and whose realities do they sideline or ignore? See also epistemic injustice, hermeneutics.

hermeneutical injustice

The process of understanding and being understood; it’s how you turn the “raw data” of information into knowledge that has meaning.

A mental representation, including individual concepts (such as the concepts “fire” and “hot”) and the thoughts constructed therefrom (such as “the fire is hot”).

idea

Impermissivism is closely associated with the broad application of the rational uniqueness principle (RU) and permissivism with the rejection of this principle. (RU) holds that for a given set of evidence E and a proposition p, only one doxastic attitude about p is rational. Rational agents who share that evidence will hold this single attitude, and none other. The issues which divide impermissivists and permissivists are further complicated if belief is understood in terms of degreed credences.

impermissivism (in the ethics of belief)

A form of reasoning in which the truth of the premises makes probable the truth of the conclusion.

induction

An objection to (testimonial) reductionism. If reductionism is true, then young children are too cognitively unsophisticated to have testimonially justified beliefs. But it is obvious that young children have testimonially justified beliefs. Thus, reductionism is false.

infant/child objection (ICO)

Given that all else is equal, one should choose the hypothesis that best explains the evidence. One form of this can be justified by a comparative use of Bayes’s theorem. It is closely related to Ockham’s razor.

inference to the best explanation

The view that every justified belief is justified by an infinite number of appropriately structured, available reasons.

infinitism

The philosophical position, held by many rationalists, according to which we have certain ideas in our minds from birth, ideas which can be realized through reason.

innatism

A good intellectual trait, such as open-mindedness, intellectual humility, intellectual honesty, curiosity, or understanding.

intellectual virtues

The view that contributing factors to justification are entirely internal to a person’s mind.

internalism

The capacity to look inward to directly comprehend intellectual objects and recognize certain truths.

intuition

A device that helps bring out or strengthen an intuition.

intuition pump

The view that knowledge is justified true belief—a modern interpretation of Plato’s view.

JTB analysis

The view that knowledge is justified true belief plus some fourth condition to rule out Gettier cases (and perhaps lottery cases).

Glossary – Introduction to Philosophy: Epistemology

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