tietoteoriaan

Tietoteoria, or epistemologia, is the branch of philosophy that investigates the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge. It asks what it means to know something, how beliefs become justified, and under what conditions a belief can count as knowledge.

A central issue is whether knowledge can be defined as justified true belief. The Gettier problems demonstrated that justification and truth together may not suffice for knowledge, leading to ongoing debates about what justifies belief and how knowledge is established.

Several major theories aim to explain justification: foundationalism, which holds basic beliefs justify others; coherentism, which relies on overall coherence among belief systems; reliabilism, which grounds justification in reliable cognitive processes; and virtue epistemology, which emphasizes intellectual character. Contextualism and externalism/internalism are variations addressing how factors like context or mental states affect knowledge-attribution.

Sources of knowledge include perception, memory, testimony, and inference. Skepticism questions whether knowledge is possible. Social epistemology studies how knowledge is produced and shared in communities, including institutions, misinformation, and the dynamics of trust.

Historically, epistemology spans from ancient Greek thought to modern philosophy, with figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, and Kant shaping debates. In Finnish scholarship, tietoteoria is a standard term for epistemology and is taught in philosophy departments, reflecting both analytic and continental influences.