episztemológia

Episztemológia, or epistemology in English, is the branch of philosophy that studies knowledge: its nature, sources, limits, and justification. It asks what it means to know something, how knowledge differs from mere belief, and how beliefs can be reliably grounded. A central historical question is whether knowledge can be obtained reliably in the face of skepticism about perception, memory, or inference.

Key topics include the sources of knowledge (perception, reason, memory, and testimony), and what makes beliefs justified or warranted. The field also examines the structure of justification, asking whether it must be founded on basic, self-evident beliefs (foundationalism), or whether justification can be a coherent system of mutually supporting beliefs (coherentism). Externalist versus internalist debates consider whether justification depends on factors accessible to the subject's perspective. Related theories include reliabilism (trust in the reliability of cognitive processes), contextualism (shifts in justification depending on the context), and Bayesian or probabilistic approaches.

A classic problem in episztemológiá is the nature of knowledge itself, often framed by the traditional triplet: justified true belief. This account has faced criticism from Gettier-style cases, which show that justification and truth alone may not suffice for knowledge. The field also addresses skepticism about ordinary knowledge, the problem of induction, and the reliability of testimony.

Historically, episztemológia traces to ancient philosophy and develops through medieval, early modern, and contemporary thought. It increasingly intersects with cognitive science, information theory, and social epistemology, examining how communities, institutions, and technologies influence what is taken as knowledge.